Regia
by Krivoklatsko
Summary: Remnant collides with the graveyard of worlds. This gives Aqua a chance to escape. Or to help team RNJR find each other in the darkness.
1. The End

Aqua clutched her Wayfinder and thought fondly of her last visit here.

A spaceship hangar, "Mos Eisley" stamped over the entrance.

But the hangar was empty. No _Falcon_ in sight. She'd helped her friends Luke and Han escape from here. And maybe, somewhere in the vastness of the universe, they were alive.

She couldn't feel Luke's heartbeat in the Wayfinder. Maybe she was being optimistic again.

"At least," she mused, "You escaped the destruction of this world."

She walked. And for the sake of her sanity, or for its lack, she talked to no one. "I wonder what you would think of this place, Luke. No wind whispers in the space port. No music warms the cantina. No smells in the market."

She rubbed her fingertips together. Haptics failed to tease her. A mere tingle where her mind thought something was missing.

She remembered the smells and sounds, the insufferable heat. All missing. Even the hues were grayed. Twin suns lit Tatooine, but the light filtered to her unnaturally dim.

Places like this- places unmade by the Heartless- functioned like pictures, barely interactive. Conceptual images of what once was.

Tatooine, like any other world, was a matrix of experiences. Stripped of those, the place was mere nostalgia. An unlit stage. A play without actors. A theme park after hours.

She passed an imperial checkpoint, the very same that Old Ben had waved her and Luke through. She had to step cautiously. "Soldiers lie dead, their weapons scattered, helmets gouged by claws."

A muffled clatter drew her attention. Something had fallen, maybe a cargo container. She summoned the Keyblade to her hand and held very still. Sometimes it was just a noise.

And sometimes, The Hunter in the Dark had found her again.

"Just a noise this time," she decided.

At the city's edge, she spun up the Wayfinder's compass. Sand stretched to the horizon, and beyond.

She smiled. "Only the desert seems peaceful. There was never any life here. There was nothing here to lose. Except…"

Somewhere in this desert was a place she wanted to visit again. One more time, before it was gone.

Her memories were all that mattered now, all that she owned and could care for.

Everything else was gone.

Every friend.

Every family.

Every iota of hope and pride.

She strode endlessly, her feet silent in the sand.

She knew somewhere ahead was the escape pod where she'd first met a chipper, chirping droid and its talkative companion. She stopped there to adjust course again. Last time, she'd felt thirsty, and quenched that thirst from a canteen. She touched her lips and tried to make the memory feel real.

She scooped sand into her hand, and didn't feel it trickling away.

Her body felt numb.

The rest of her hurt.

She picked another heading, and set out again, past a new landmark. A hulking capital ship haunted the desert, its gray mass wedged into the ground like a mountain.

She'd warned the Grand Moff about using Darkness.

She'd warned everyone.

The farm peeked above the horizon, first as pillars of smoke; Then the moisture towers, bent and broken; and the domes, cracked like dropped eggs.

She had fond memories of Luke's family: Owen's stories about good days at the market, and Beru's about better days at the fair. Luke's lopsided smile as he talked about the time he'd scared off raiders. Owen's paternal frown and glare.

She didn't want to see this.

She had to.

The first night that they'd sat together at the dinner table, she'd felt a rush of worry. Watching her hosts and waiting to see the customs. Owen and Beru and Luke bowed their heads and closed their eyes. And together, the four of them offered a prayer: For a good harvest, for Luke's safety, for Beru's medical treatment, for peace throughout the galaxy, for Aqua to find her friends.

Her feet brought her to the ruins.

And her eyes found their bodies, burning, charred. Owen and Beru had at least died together. It was hard to see them this way.

Harder still to see the human bootprints, lined up before them.

Aqua covered her mouth. No matter how hard she squeezed her eyes, the image remained, and the tears escaped her.

She remembered Owen's stone-faced optimism. Confronting everyone's worries, he'd answered, "You have to have faith that things will work themselves out in the end, that the Light will triumph over the Dark."

She had lost that faith.

A wave of shadow covered the planet, all light rolled up like a scroll.

She looked up, saw the first of two suns siphoning into The End. Its event horizon sparkled and sang as another light extinguished in the void. The second followed instantly, and a Perfect Darkness settled across Tatooine.

Aqua wept.

And to everyone, she cried, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Ventus' image appeared beside her, illusory or imaginary. Another, Terra, sat and stared at the sky, exactly as they used to. Only she hadn't sobbed and screamed back then.

The desert shifted- the horizon stretched out into The End, and the event horizon disassembled all that remained.

In a moment, this place would be just another memory, irrecoverable. Just a pain in the hearts of those willing to bear it.

Sand spilled into the jaws of time, like an hourglass broken and unwinding, slipping from beneath her feet. The moisture towers fizzled and became dust, turned their way towards The End and accepted their new state of matter. Of not mattering.

And in a moment, so would Aqua.

Who would remember her, or the worlds she'd held dear?

A small part of Terra, now possessed.

Ventus, if he ever awakened.

Perhaps King Mickey would someday recall that she existed, and sadly say, "That's a long story, for another time."

Ultimately, her struggles hadn't mattered to her opponents- only to her. And only for those moments that she'd imagined life getting better, stargazing from the Land of Departure.

If she kept struggling, kept ahead of The End, maybe she would see her home again, and watch the castle slide into this final place.

She opened her eyes. This total destruction was beautiful.

Kaleidoscopic.

Hypnotic.

The longer she ran, the longer this would hurt.

But she would still fall, just as everyone before her.

Maybe she would be fortunate enough for a burial. More fortunate than Owen and Beru. But the soil that held her would drift here, slowly and surely.

"Everything comes to this place. This is The End," she admitted, "And there is no escape."

She would never again think that she could save anything. She would never try.

Wind tickled her ears.

The sky lightened, and something cosmically large growled.

She looked up, then _up_ , and turned to see it.

Another world was approaching, charging as if to ram her.

She wondered if that was possible. She wondered what happened when worlds collide.

And then she didn't have to wonder.


	2. Red Like Thorns

There is no map for the lost.

Four Huntsmen learned this the hardest way.

Their feet had a path. Their hands held a map. But they could not reconcile the two. The last three rivers didn't match anything on it.

Ruby handed the map to Jaune. It was his turn try.

She watched him fidget with the page, frustrated, unable to focus. He wiped away phantom tears, and tried to look okay. Even straightened his shoulders and said, "Yeah. This is good. I haven't been to Shion for a while, but I recognize a lot of this terrain. I think we're nearby."

He glanced to Nora and Ren in the rear. They were too busy bickering to notice him. He looked to Ruby. She didn't fake a smile for that act.

Jaune sighed and whispered, "Do you think we can really make it to Mistral without CCT maps?"

Ruby nodded, bobbing her dark crimson hair. She forced a smile and chimed, "We don't need a path to Mistral, Jaune. We just need a path to Shion."

Jaune nodded blonde. "And from Shion to the next town. Okay."

Crickets chirped. Birds sang. Their packs and weapons jingled as they walked.

Ruby wiped sweat from her brow and offered, "You want me to try reading the map again?"

"No need," Jaune huffed. "We're on a road. It goes _somewhere_."

He folded the map, aggravated, and stuffed it in his pack.

Ruby asked, "Do you think it goes to Shion?"

Jaune looked at his feet and gathered his attitude. Finally, glancing to her and remembering the question, he answered, "No matter what the map says, there's only one way to know."

Ruby nodded, glad he'd recovered. She turned to check on Ren and Nora in the rear.

Nora whispered her concerns a little too loudly, gesturing wildly with her arms so that her pink combat dress made her look like a dancer.

"Look, Ren… Ruby's not the one I'm worried about. She's been lost plenty of times, and always found her way home."

Ren sighed, far more demure. His green tunic and upright posture made him look like a statesman. And murmuring as if correcting a _faux pas_ , he said, "Ruby _believed_ that there was a home to return to. Losing faith is subtle and powerful, Nora."

"Okay, but, look. Jaune is kind of-" She bit the inside of her cheek, then blurted, "He can't be leader. Ruby's leading from behind, but she's _taking_ the _lead_ , Ren. Not Jaune. And Jaune's…" She squinted and held out her arms towards his back.

"Ruby is too young," Ren disagreed. Monotone and composed, he articulated, "She's dragging us into pointless fights. She might look okay to you, Nora, but she watched Penny die right in front of her."

Ruby relived it, suddenly and vividly. The backlight fading from her eyes.

"Then she watched her sister lose her arm,"

The scream echoed in the forest,

"and then she watched Pyrrha die."

Her croaking and gasping. The smell of cooked flesh, then ash. And the image reflected in gleeful, evil pupils. An evil smile.

"So," Ren concluded, "I think you're trying to give her more responsibility than she can carry right now."

That he uttered these things without flinching proved a lifestyle of mindfulness. He was not afraid of Truth and its associated pains. He held them dear.

Nora hugged herself and teared up. "Okay, Ren, look- _Jaune_ is _Obviously_ too _depressed_!"

"Keep your voice down," Ren reminded her.

Nora's lip trembled. "I wish Pyrrha was here."

She covered her face, ashamed, crying. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

Ren frowned at her, but admitted, "We all wish Pyrrha was here."

They walked for a long time in silence.

Until Jaune looked down to Ruby and whispered, "Do you think they're right?"

Ruby hiked her pack higher on her little back. She'd tried to keep everyone's spirits up. But what was there to tell them? What was the point? There was a Huntsman Academy in Mistral. They had to graduate. They had to be Huntsmen, or they would be Nothing.

Tone tempered by trauma, she asserted, "We can do this, Jaune. We _have_ to do this."

"And when we get to Mistral… Then what? It can be destroyed, too. Just like Vale."

Ruby stopped.

And so did everyone else.

She cried. Fists balled and shaking, she whispered, "I don't know Jaune."

She turned to Ren and Nora. Green and Pink blobs through her tears.

She shouted, "We can't give up! We have to keep trying!"

Silence. Real silence. The forest had quieted.

Meaning danger.

Jaune noticed it first, head perking up. He drew _Crocea Mors_ from his hip, and the team circled up.

Nora drew her warhammer from her back. Ren, his dual SMGs. Ruby swung _Crescent_ from its holster and gripped it like a shotgun at low ready.

The barrel slid loose to full deployment, and the scythe swung into position and clicked.

She twirled it by the staff and caught it over her shoulders, held as if crucified. Her sorrows transmuted to rage, shaking her body, and light shimmered on _Crescent's_ trembling blade.

"Find it," Ruby ordered. "And kill it."

Ren murmured, "We only have to so much ammo, Ruby. We can't fight every-"

"Then we'll kill them with our hands."

Tough talk from a little girl. But her aura sparked on her finger tips as she hissed.

The same power shone in everyone's eyes, and where their hands gripped their weapons.

"I don't feel any Grimm this way," Nora whispered.

Jaune pointed. "Something's moving down the trail."

"Wedge," Ruby ordered.

The team reformed. Nora hustled to grenadier position and switched her warhammer to its launcher configuration.

Ruby planted her scythe blade as a monopod and laid back to find a target for her sniper-scythe.

Ren keened his eyes. "That's not something moving on the trail," he noted. "That's… The trail, moving."

Everyone blinked at the impossible.

The ground crawled away, shifting rocks as it moved. And as the trail extended, its destination came nearer, so that here and there seemed to be trading places.

Reality did not like this super-positioning.

The ground cracked, three jagged lines splitting the team onto islands. And before Ruby could shout an order, the cracks spread like lightning. The world shattered, the path dissolved beneath Ruby's feet, and her stomach lurched as on a rollercoaster.

She shrieked and fell into darkness, cradled in her red cape.

Training took over. She'd jumped from many cliffs and aircraft. She gripped her cape and made a wing, rolling to face to the ground. But there was only blackness, and wind rushing past her ears.

Focusing her soul, she flexed her semblance and slowed her descent, all laws of inertia bending to suit her. Rose petals spawned from the entropic output, clouding around her as she slowly drifted into darkness.

She saw ground, dark and rising to meet her, and she hit her brakes hard. She thumped it, left a dent, felt the impact disperse across her aural shield. But the feeling was only that, a pressure.

The ground didn't have a temperature, nor a texture.

She rose to her knees, then her feet, and dusted her combat skirt. She couldn't feel the fabric. Rubbing her fingers yielded only a tingling sensation. She pushed her fingers to her neck, but didn't find her pulse.

She was dead, or hallucinating.

She was afraid.

She'd landed exactly where she fell from.

The same trail.

The same trees.

Footprints where her friends had stood.

Though the world was soft and black. Colors blunted. The air tasted stale and everything looked like a fuzzy copy of itself.

"Alright, Ruby. Get it together. Find the team, find the trail, get to Mistral. Or, Shion."

She shouted, "I'm alive!"

No echo. No answer.

"Guys?"

Her shout sounded hollow. But it carried enough to draw attention.

A figure appeared in the trees, upright and graceful. Silver hair billowed like a cape.

Ruby drew back her foot and readied _Crescent_.

"Who goes there?!" Her little voice cracked.

The man smirked. His eyes glowed golden. She'd seen that before. Pyrrha burning, reflected in Cinder's pupils. And evil smile.

Ruby's face twitched with fear and fury. "I said-!"

The man emerged from the woods.

He had a wing. Only one, but massive like an angel's, and black.

And on his hip rode a blade darker than black.

 _Odachi_ design. Two, maybe two-point-five meters. Three including arm length.

Mobility and Close-Quarters were her best option.

He was watching her, eyes dancing and analyzing in kind.

But she was being too hasty. This wasn't a Grimm. "H-Hey!" she shouted. "Who are you?"

His smirk broadened into a smile. And he very slowly enunciated, "I'm looking for a man named Cloud." His voice rumbled, hypnotic and beautiful.

He stopped at ten meters. If he was a Huntsman, he could close seven and strike in a single leap.

"Never met him." Ruby back-stepped to eleven, and kept her stance. The man didn't follow.

She checked her shoulders for foes, hoped for friends. She shouted, "Nora! Jaune!"

The One-Winged swordsman asked, "Are you lost?"

"I'm fine!"

She shivered. This was bad. Evil intent filled the air. Ruby knew this sensation. She'd felt it every day that Cinder lived in the dorms with her, every day that they attended classes together. She'd ignored it. Never again.

"Go away! What do you want?!"

The swordsman's eyes moved to _Crescent_. "Well, now… That's an interesting weapon. Are you a warrior?"

His hand moved to the hilt on his own weapon. Ruby read "Masamune" engraved upon the grip. She swallowed. Adrenaline coursed her veins. Her tendons ached.

"BACK OFF! I'm a Huntress! I don't know you stranger, but if you're looking for a fight-"

"I am."


	3. Shion

Jaune thumped sand, landing so hard his aura popped.

His pocket rumbled. A soft, robotic voice announced, "Warning. Aura shock. Please refrain from strenuous-" He slapped his scroll, acknowledging and ignoring the training program.

He had to get up. He had to keep moving. He'd always been the weakest link, and that meant The Team was depending on him to not break. He had to prove that he belonged among Huntsmen, that he wasn't just a lucky cheater with a sad story.

He found his feet, and felt the tingle crossing his skin, shield reforming. It pressurized, and his ears bubbled. He stretched his jaw, trying to fix the pressure.

And then he stopped to contemplate the desert.

The nearest landmark was a woman with blue hair, staring at him. Just beyond her, a big disco ball ate everything. He stared at it, not comprehending.

The woman stared at him, just as dumbly.

The desert poured into the disco ball, like water down a drain. The horizon was moving towards him. When it reached the woman, terror and impetus shoved him into action.

"Hey! HEY! YOU HAVE TO MOVE!"

He charged, sheathing _Crocea Mors_ and sprinting thoughtlessly into the danger. He grabbed the stranger around her waist, hefted her into a fireman carry, and turned to run.

Eternity nipped at his heel, and a piece of his shoe crossed that threshold forever.

The sand slipped from under him, and he leaped away, aura burning through his legs and granting superhuman strength.

He didn't want to die.

The desert was vanishing behind him. And around him, strange eddies of light warped until it seemed other places were overlapping here. Cities. Islands. Streets at midnight. Farms. Living rooms. Pure Darkness. Yellow eyes blinking to life and turning his way.

"What are you doing?" The woman on his shoulders hit him. "Stop running!"

He stopped. "I don't know! How do we get out of here?"

He turned on a heel, looking for something familiar. These orbs were other places, and he REALLY wanted to be somewhere else. He was willing to grasp at intuition.

The Woman wiped her eyes clean, looked at a place, then another. "Do you recognize any of these?"

She looked behind them. Jaune followed. The sand-slide was catching up.

"Nevermind, keep running!" she shouted.

He did. And a place caught his eye.

A trail on a hill. Rocks stacked atop each other. On the highest, a child had carved the Emblem of Vale.

He saw it in color. Not dim and dreary like the muted world around him, but real and stimulating. Beyond that mirror-thin barrier, the trees swayed in wind.

Jaune leaped, and passed into Remnant.

They landed rough, skidding on patchy grass. Jaune ate dirt, and Aqua sprawled out like a snow angel, facing the sky. The door to darkness closed behind them, entropy zipping it shut.

And for a long time, they panted, and listened to a calm breeze blowing in the trees.

Aqua felt her heart beat. She saw a blue sky, bright with daylight, and squinted her eyes shut. And when oxygen stung her lungs, she understood that she was free. That this was real.

She smiled and breathed deeply. Dirt. Grass. Oak.

She couldn't hold it. Her air burst as laughter.

Jaune groaned and pushed up from the ground. "You okay?"

Aqua held a thumb up.

Jaune nodded, took off his shoe, and dumped sand from it.

Aqua sat up and shook grains from her hair. She rolled her bare shoulders, stretching her muscles for the first time in… King Mickey had said ten years. But how long ago was that?

A banner waved beside her, pinned atop a small rock shrine at the cliff's edge. A gentle breeze made it display to the world below.

The banner's emblem: two axe-blades crossed, olive branches behind.

This symbol had stood out to her rescuer.

She looked at him. In the darkness, she'd seen Ventus. In the light, she saw a different blonde kid with spiky hair. She rubbed her eyes, shielding them from sunlight, then blinked at him.

"Jaune," he said.

"Huh?"

"Is my name."

"Oh." She nodded. "Aqua."

"A what?"

"Aqua. Is my name."

"Oh. Right."

Jaune lifted his other shoe to empty it.

Aqua tilted her head and read "Left," written under the sole.

She raised an eyebrow. "Get 'em mixed up?"

Jaune looked at his shoe, then blushed. "Oh. Uh. No. Not anymore. Hey, you didn't happen to see anybody else, did you? In that… Place?"

He gestured where the portal used to be. Then, remembering himself, did a hopping spin on one leg, to take in his surroundings. Looking ridiculous. He put his shoe back on.

Aqua shook her head. "Sorry. And you're not the only person looking for your friends."

"Okay. Well, we got separated, so…" he took another look at his surroundings. "Oh. I know where Shion is from here."

"One of your friends?"

Jaune pointed. "It's a settlement down this hiking trail. What city you from?"

Aqua stood. Dizziness caught her. Jaune offered a hand for stability, but she refused. There was a lot going on to deal with. She didn't feel like breaking bad news about his friends, that _separated_ was an understatement.

She breathed, enjoyed the sensation.

Then her stomach growled, empty, and she did not enjoy the sensation.

"Hungry?" Jaune reached over his shoulder and waved his hand around behind his back. "I've got some jerky strips in my… My, uh…"

He looked over his shoulder. "Oh, great. Lost my pack."

His stomach rumbled.

"Well then," Aqua giggled. "Nice to meet you, Jaune. Let's go find food."

He led them down the hill, forest canopy as their vista.

Aqua gathered her thoughts- her feelings. A moment ago, she'd been ready to die. Now she felt like she'd missed the train; A little embarrassed that she couldn't die properly- that she'd given up- that she'd been caught in the act.

She was better than this.

She brushed a tear from her cheek and looked ahead. Jaune was alert, head on a swivel, walking tall. This boy was a new friend from a new world. So it was time to pick his brain.

Hi? They'd already covered that.

Who are you? Jaune.

Sorry about your friends, they're probably dead? Bad topic.

The trail reached the hill's bottom, and levelled out into forest.

Aqua finally asked, "Did you pick a world at random?"

Jaune gave her a glance, then kept alert as he talked. "Did I what?"

"When we were on Tatooine. You jumped into a portal to here. Do you know what world this is?"

He looked at her like she was an idiot. "Remnant. Where else would we be?"

"Tatooine," she didn't say.

Some people didn't' want to know about the big universe. She didn't have the enthusiasm to explain it.

"Almost Winter," Jaune noted. "Fall was kinda rough. Hey, what city are you from?"

He glanced her up and down, and gestured to her leotard. "Not Atlas, I'm guessing."

Aqua folded her arms across her chest. "How should I take that?"

"Well… It's cold there."

The trail ended abruptly, overgrown by brush. Jaune stopped and stared at it. "Uh oh."

He crouched, and noted with a gesture the trodden dirt beneath the flora. "Huh. Recent. I guess we're hacking through."

He looked up at Aqua, then paused and stared.

She asked, "What?"

"You gotta keep a lookout, you know. We don't want anything to catch us off guard out here."

"Anything like what?"

She turned to check their surroundings, and caught motion behind them. A pool of shadow slithered to the middle of the road. Two eyes blinked to life, then twenty more, and their owners climbed into three dimensions.

Jaune drew his sword. "Grimm!"

"Heartless!"

Jaune put himself in front of Aqua. "Get behind me. I'm a Huntsman!"

Aqua summoned her keyblade and charged. "You get behind _me_! I've got a keyblade!"

"A what? Oh, I guess that's what I'd call that."

The monsters were still forming, first claws extending from their bodies. Novashadows, with red emblems across their chests. Aqua surged and swiped three with a singular blow. Jaune shouted a warcry and charged into ten more, absorbing hits with shield and armor.

Aqua danced with three and found them lacking. Three strikes, three kills. She glanced to Jaune.

He had one climbing on his back. He pulled it off and used it as a club, forgetting the sword in his hand.

She remembered a time that Terra fought that way. Before he got good.

At the battle's end, Aqua cringed and watched Jaune shield-bash the last monster to death. For a swordsman, he lacked even the basic concepts of elegance.

Jaune stood and panted, then flashed a smile at Aqua. "Wow. Those were young ones. Real young. Didn't even have bones."

He walked to the brush, and began chopping their way through. "You coming?"

Aqua nodded. She glanced across the forest first, checking for more. Jaune's words tumbled through her mind. Bones. Bones?

She stepped into the brush and followed him. "Heartless don't grow bones for years."

"Huh? Yeah, well Grimm don't die of old age. Some have been around for _hundreds_ of years. And those are just the ones we know about."

Chop.

Aqua raised an eyebrow. "You study them?"

Chop. Jaune puffed out his chest. "Oh, they teach you that kind of thing at Huntsman Academies. I'm a student at Beacon." Chop. He deflated a little. "Was. I _was_ a student at Beacon. On my way to Haven, now." Chop. "In Mistral." Chop.

Aqua shrugged. The names didn't mean anything to her. She dispelled her Keyblade.

Jaune saw the shimmering, and stopped to admire the weapon as it vanished. "Whoa. High tech."

"Magic," she corrected.

"Right. Okay." He rolled his eyes. Chop.

Aqua noted a scratch on her elbow. When she'd slid on the dirt. She mumbled, "Cure," and watched her skin seal.

"Huh?" Jaune asked.

"Nothing."

He shrugged. Chop.

Aqua's mind caught up with a problem. " _Grimm_ … Have been a problem for… _Hundreds_ of years?"

Jaune stopped and turned to her. "Are you serious right now? You didn't know that?"

She had to tell him eventually, about other worlds- That she was a long way from home. She asked, "How long have Grimm been around?"

"Since… Forever?" Jaune turned back to his task. Chop.

Aqua held her chin and thought. Heartless weren't very common outside of The End. Weren't supposed to be. Not until recently. The emblems on the Novashadows… They were artificial. But the emblems were all identical, not hand made by some alchemist in a shed. Was someone mass producing Heartless?

She asked, "And, Jaune, you've never seen a Keyblade before?"

Chop. "No. I mean, it looks cool." Chop. "Everybody's got a unique weapon, right?"

Aqua looked at Jaune's short-sword.

"Except me," Jaune sighed.

Aqua blurted, "How do you _survive_?!"

Jaune stopped chopping. But he didn't face her. His tone dropped. "I guess you're not from Vale," he said. "How do we survive? We fight."

CHOP.

"We fight, and we never stop fighting."

Aqua swallowed. She wiped sweat from her brow. It was chilly here, but not too chilly to sweat on a hike. Jaune was strange, she still believed. But not everyone could swing a sword when the time came.

"I can't wait to meet the locals," she answered.

Beyond the brush, someone asked, "What was that? Contact! CONTACT!"

Jaune cupped his hands. "Human! We're HUMAN!"

"Come out!"

Jaune surged through the brush. Aqua followed.

They'd found Shion.

The settlement smoked. Fires had long since run their course.

Three men with rifles waited for them. None wore uniforms.

Jaune sheathed his sword and gripped his head. "Oh, no. What happened here?"

One of the men-at-arms gestured into the forest. "I don't know. Random people keep wandering out of the woods. And every time they do, we get another wave of Grimm. We already had a whole tribe of bandits yesterday. Then the swarm. Now these stragglers. That was our only Huntsman."

He pointed, to a Huntsman propped against a ruined wall. Ragged breathing. A medic kept pressure on his chest wound. Despite this, blood poured down him into the dirt.

The medic, "Do we have anymore gauze?!"

Jaune pointed at the huntsman. "Hey. You're Ruby's Uncle!"

The huntsman, pale and weak, shook his head. "Not for long," he smirked.

Jaune ran to his side. Aqua followed.

"Oh, this is bad," Jaune strained.

The pain on his face was too familiar for Aqua. She wished someone stronger had come to save her friends.

Jaune didn't believe in Magic. Likely, no one here did. And maybe using it would get her almost burned at the stake again.

The medic hit Jaune. "Gauze! Coagulant! Do you have any?!"

"I lost my pack. It's- No. Mister Branwen, you're gonna be okay, right?"

"Not if we can't stop this bleeding!"

"This is nothin'-" Branwen mumbled. "At least I'm not this guy."

He gestured down the wall, where the second-to-last huntsman sat dead, staring blankly at his boots. If Aqua didn't act, Qrow would soon join him. The wound gushed, even under pressure.

Jaune grabbed Branwen's lapels. "You can't die! Ruby's about to get here with-"

Aqua reached out her hand and intoned, "Curaga."

Emerald energies wrapped his wounds and wiped away his blood. Bones regrew, sinew spun, muscles and skin knit into place. The medic removed his hands- looked awestruck at a man remade.

And Branwen breathed easily. He looked down and poked his healed chest. "Huh," he grunted.

Everyone turned to Aqua, and gaped.


	4. The Maiden

The first and last building in Shion was an Inn.

The innkeeper, a dog faunus, emerged from the back room with a platter of roast chicken.

Aqua's stomach growled. She licked her lips.

"Oh, nice!" Jaune exclaimed.

The Innkeeper set the meal before them, and laid out porcelain and silver for them to eat from. These plates were the most civilized furnishings in the room.

Evening rays filtered in through the ceiling rafters.

Jaune unfolded his napkin into his lap.

Aqua forgot the importance of custom and quickly dug in with fork and knife.

She saw Jaune eat a wing with his hands, and ditched her silverware entirely.

She ate bird like pig.

So she didn't notice as the whole town's population trickled in to watch her.

"This is really delicious," Jaune said through a mouthful.

Aqua nodded her agreement and devoured thigh. Her fingers shook tremendously.

The Inkeeper stood by as a waiter.

Aqua glanced at him, gulped her food, and said, "Thank you so much, Sir. I was starving."

He bowed. Reaaaaally bowed. The dog ears atop his head flattened in submission.

Still licking her fingers, Aqua glanced to Jaune.

He was eating, hungrily. But he was looking at her more than his food. She noticed the crowd forming around the table. _Everyone_ was looking at her, awed.

A quick survey told her she was the prettiest girl in the town. But not by this much. She wasn't even the best dressed.

In the Inn's corner, a young woman in a wheelchair hid herself beneath a white shawl. But while her face was concealed, the scar tissue along her chin and throat and chest were not. And the red kimono she wore, its gold filigree, sparkled in the Inn's sparse sunlight.

Her attendant appeared to be a boy. But that was an illusion. Aqua blinked through several magical lenses. She couldn't break the illusion. She had more pressing concerns.

More people piling into the room.

More people staring at her.

Someone nudged the Innkeep and asked for a beer, and was politely turned down. "Haven't you heard? I have an important guest."

Aqua stared at the interaction.

The innkeeper asked, "May I fetch you anything else, Miss Aqua?"

Cautious now, she set down her chicken leg and sucked the fat from her fingers.

"Um…" she looked at everyone.

Everyone looked at her.

Another man entered. Branwen. The Huntsman whose life she'd saved. He pushed to the front of the crowd and ordered, "Don't crowd her. She's eating."

Showing deference, the crowd stepped back.

Now that he was standing, Branwen looked lively. Though a bit like an animal, for a man. Unshaven, unkempt, uncouth. He wore a crucifix on his necklace, but off-kilter, like his resting frown.

He pulled out a chair and mounted from behind as if it had a saddle. He nodded to the Innkeep. "Rufus. I'll pay for her."

The Inkeeper shook his head. "No need. It will be on the house."

Branwen nodded to Aqua. "Name's Qrow. And if you ever need anything, you can use it."

Aqua hesitated. She knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth. So instead of "Why?" she said, "That's… Very generous of you. I was only trying to help."

Rufus murmured, "Just like in the stories."

Aqua watched him, the incredulous expression, like she was a saint stepping forth from stained glass. She wiped her hands on her napkin. "Qrow, why is everyone staring at me?"

He stared at her. "Seriously?"

Jaune, through food, mumbled, "Earlier, she asked me what Grimm are. And… Hey." He turned to Qrow. "How did you get here?"

"I've got legs," Qrow grunted, still staring at Aqua.

"Yeah, but I thought you were staying with Tai and Yang at the cabin."

"Best laid plans." Qrow nodded upwards, to Aqua. "Where are you from?"

She was caught off guard. She'd been inspecting these two. Jaune and Qrow didn't seem star struck. They were intrigued, maybe impressed. But something set them apart from the rest of the crowd. By their zealous gazes, she realized that the commoners were investing hope in her.

And that Jaune was not.

To Qrow, she was a curiosity. He frowned and chewed the inside of his cheek, waiting for her to answer.

"W-where am I from?"

"Yeah," Qrow asserted.

"She wouldn't tell me, either," Jaune answered. "I figured she's not from Atlas."

"Obviously," Qrow grumbled.

She didn't like this line of questioning. There was probably a wrong place to be from.

"And her shoes are weird," Jaune said. "No offense," he amended.

Aqua looked at her boots. Metal rims, pointed toes, steel wing-blades to protect her from bolos. These were high-fashion most places she went.

"Yeah," Qrow sighed. "Where'd you find her?"

Jaune stopped eating- pulled a pensive face. "Kinda hard to explain," he decided.

"Let me try," Qrow offered. "You were walking on the trail when something weird happened. Then you were in a black desert. You found a floating ball with a piece of Remnant inside it, and when you touched the ball, you were back here. And then Grimm attacked."

Qrow broke eye contact with Aqua, and looked to Jaune for confirmation.

"Yeah." Jaune nodded. "How'd you know?"

"That's about the fifth time I've heard that story today. And it happened to me, too." He looked back to Aqua. "So where are you from?"

"Hang on," she protested. "I'm getting really uncomfortable. Why is everyone staring at me?"

Qrow looked at the crowd, watched them watch her, then shrugged. "Well… How do I put this…?"

He put his feet on the table, leaned his chair back on its hind legs, and pulled a flask from his jacket. Thinking, staring at the roof, he took a swig.

As he did, a stranger leaned out of the crowd and asked, "Miss Aqua… Are you… Are you a Maiden?"

All motion stopped.

Adrenaline snapped through Aqua's spine. She was completely surrounded. There was no escaping without a fight.

She said, "Uhhhhh… _**Excuse**_ me?!"

Jaune, through food, mumbled, "Phrasing!"

Rufus shouted, "Get him out of here! Idiot!"

The crowd roughly removed the fool.

Aqua breathed. Her heart thrummed.

Qrow swallowed his liquor and sighed.

Aqua nervously scooted her chair back from the table. "W-well, this has been lovely."

She stood from her chair, but Qrow waved a hand dismissively, for her to stop. "He means the story of the Four Maidens. You heard it?"

Aqua shook her head.

"It's a fairy tale," Qrow explained.

"O-okay. Listen, everyone. Have you never seen magic before?"

"No. They haven't," Qrow said. "Hear me out. And keep eating. You're shaking."

Her hands trembled, even as she gripped the chair. She was starving. She nodded, then cautiously sat and resumed, while Qrow told the story.

"So there was an old hermit. And one day he finds a young woman meditating in his yard. He shouts at her from the window, but she convinces him to meditate as well. To reflect on things. That's the Winter Maiden."

"You're not telling this right at all," Jaune interrupted.

Qrow ignored him. "So then another woman shows up. This is Spring. She starts tending to the hermit's garden. He watches all this from the window. Well then Summer shows up and convinces him to come outside. And finally Fall shows up, prepares a nice meal, and helps the hermit appreciate all that he has."

All the talking got him thirsty. Qrow took another swig from his flask.

"The hermit gave them all magic powers," Jaune finished, "Because they were so nice. He figured they'd use it to help people even more."

Qrow swallowed and wiped his mouth. "And then these four powers carried on across generations. Or so the story goes."

Aqua could tell that he believed it.

Qrow thumbed at the door. "So what that idiot meant to ask is, are you going to save us? Or are you just another bastard with power?"

He scratched his unshaved chin. The sound was like sandpaper.

Aqua didn't want to answer. They had a problem with heartless here. They'd _had_ a problem with heartless, since time immemorial. So the problem was with the very heart of their world.

And she had a keyblade.

So she was honor bound to save them. No matter how badly she wanted to check on Ventus. No matter how badly she wanted to storm the gates at Radiant Gardens. To revisit all that remained.

She belonged here, on this world just outside the darkness. She had a chance to save this place from annihilation. And she had to trust that someone else was saving all that she cared about.

She didn't want to be here.

She took another bite of chicken and chewed instead of answering.

But Qrow was a very patient, very persistent man. He waited, glaring at her more like a hawk.

She eventually swallowed and asked, "You think I'm from a fairy tale?"

Qrow grinned, and she recognized delight. He'd seen through her evasion.

"I'm living proof you're from a fairy tale. And I don't know about the rest of you…" He nodded to Rufus, to the crowd, to Jaune, "But I do feel a certain tingling in the air."

Aqua felt it, too. She wasn't' the only mage in the room. Her senses keened, and she looked again into the corner, to the woman in the white shawl. But there was no reason to expose her.

Aqua looked back to her food. "I… Don't want to make promises I can't keep. But as long as I'm here, we're in this together. Whatever… _This_ is. It seems you have a problem with Heartless."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "You keep calling them that."

Qrow nodded. " _Heartless_. Yeah. And that's not our only problem."

Jaune pulled a tablet from his pocket and set it on the table. "Oh, hey. In case we get separated, what's your number?"

Aqua looked at the tablet. "My… Number?"

"You know, so I can call your scroll?"

"My what?"

Qrow's grin became a smile. And he accused, "You're not from Remnant, are you?"

Everyone looked at Qrow.

He didn't flinch. He kept his glare on Aqua, who nervously swallowed and looked down into her food.

Rufus scoffed, "That's crazy talk, Branwen."

"Maybe." Qrow pushed out his chair and stood. "Jaune, we've been here for an hour. Where's the rest of your team? Where's Ruby?"

Jaune swallowed. "We got separated. About five hours ago. When, uh… Well, you know. I figured we were all trying to get here. And we knew we were close. So I think we should wait here till tomorrow. Then head out and look for them."

"Good plan. You stay here and protect the town. I'm heading out to see if I can ride one of those portals."

"Not a good idea," Aqua warned.

Qrow waited for an explanation.

Aqua looked at Jaune apologetically. She didn't like bearing bad news. "You can't map that place. And… About your friends…"

He squared his shoulders to her. "Did you see them?"

She shook her head. "No. I… For you to find your way back here…" She licked her lips. "Jaune, you got _really_ lucky."

"So they're still stuck there," Qrow asked.

"No. More likely…" She bit her lower lip. She didn't' want say anything too negative, nor give false hope. The truth was… "There are… _A lot_ of other worlds. "

In the corner, the woman in the white shawl made a gesture. Her attendant wheeled them out. Aqua resisted the urge to watch them. She wondered what a mage did in a world like this, aside from hide.

Qrow put his hands on the table. Up close, and under his attention, she understood him a lot better. Qrow had the nicest clothing in the room. Everyone called him Huntsman. So he had status in society.

And yet he looked like a beast wearing a man's pelt. He'd eschewed city life for Nature's virtues. This man was ready to enter the darkness and slay monsters.

"Aqua," he said. "I appreciate you saving my life."

She nodded. "You're welcome."

"And I would further appreciate…" Qrow strained, "If you would help me find my niece."


	5. We Share The Same Sky

Jaune pointed. "Shion is named after these flowers."

Purple petals. Yellow stamen. Thousands of them.

Aqua and Qrow followed him towards sunset, cutting a field of these beautiful little plants. The sun vanished, and Qrow set down a table and chair.

"Thank you," Aqua nodded.

"Thank Rufus. It's his stuff." He gestured across the field, to the Inn.

"It's kinda weird that an Innkeep has an art studio," Jaune said.

Aqua laid out her drawing pad. "We've all got our hobbies. And mine… Is stargazing."

She looked up. The first few pinpricks of light were visible.

Qrow popped a squat and kept his eyes on the tree line.

Jaune stood beside Aqua and looked up. She glanced at him, at the flower in his hand, then back to the sky.

"So how do you start?" he asked. "There are so many of them."

"Well… If I recognize any constellations at a glance, then I'll start there. But I probably won't."

"I could help with that," Qrow grumbled.

"Not likely. Your world moved."

Jaune recoiled. "What?"

"You'll see."

The sky hued to black. Qrow looked up and mumbled, "That's disconcerting."

"So…" Jaune asked.

Aqua brushed a hair aside and put pencil to paper. "So. Second star on the right, and straight on 'till morning."

In the darkness, she noticed Jaune and Qrow's eyes glowing. Subtle, but it set them apart from the common people.

Aqua tilted her chin to Jaune. "You were telling me about the flowers?"

"Oh. Yeah. I didn't wanna distract you."

"I can kind of listen."

Glowbugs leaped from the flowers and illuminated the clearing.

Jaune looked into his hand. "The flowers… The name means, 'I won't forget you.'"

He looked sad.

Qrow looked at him, then Aqua, and asked, "So now that the secret's up… You're from another world. What's it like there, without Grimm?"

She didn't want to pour her heart out. The Land of Departure- Castle Oblivion- no longer served as a home. Now its only value was as a secret. Even thinking about the truth felt like betraying it.

So she answered a different question. "That dark place that Jaune rescued me from? I was trapped there for a long time. Your world is falling into that darkness. Enough for Jaune to slip through and bring me back."

She leaned back from her constellation sketch. This one did look familiar. She knew her trigonometry tables, but needed to write them out anyway.

Jaune peered over her shoulder and commented, "This looks really advanced. You sure know a lot."

"I grew up in a castle, with a lot of time to study." She shut her eyes and silently scolded herself for letting the castle slip through her lips.

Qrow turned away from the tree line. "Castle? You royalty?"

She pointed into the sky.

"See those three bright stars? They make an equilateral triangle. That one closest to the nebula is Olympus Coliseum. That over there is Enchanted Dominion. And there's... Radiant Gardens."

Terra was somewhere on that world.

"Which puts us…" She put her head down and scribbled out a star lane map. "Right where I thought."

"And that helps us… How?" Qrow asked.

"Well… I know where Remnant is. And I have a pretty good idea about where it was. Or where it wasn't at least. I know Remnant moved a long way to get here. Which really narrows what could have moved it. I think I know what ritual sent your world here."

"Ritual?" Jaune asked.

It wasn't a pleasant topic. Aqua shook her head. "We're out here to make a map to your teammates. I can figure out where they're likely to turn up. That will narrow down our search."

A light turned on nearby. They all turned to the Inn, where Rufus had lit a lamp and set up an easel.

Aqua turned back to her drawings. "My turn to ask questions. So how do you two kill Heartless if you don't have Keyblades or magic?"

"You watched me," Jaune answered.

"I do it like him, but better," Qrow agreed.

"That explains why yours have bones. Heartless can't be killed with conventional weapons. They just return to the darkness, and learn, and reform."

"Guess we'll have to keep killing them," Jaune said.

"That's called job security," Qrow quipped.

Aqua frowned at his back. Then asked, "Jaune, do you remember the Novashadows we fought on the way here? They had red emblems on their chests."

"Oh. Yeah?"

"Is that normal?"

"Grimm always have spirals on their bones."

"Spirals or symbols? Those Novashadows had emblems on them. Like… Manufacturers marks."

"I didn't notice. I wasn't paying much attention."

Aqua frowned again.

"Sorry," Jaune shrugged.

She shook her head. Ventus had been like this. Maybe If Master Eraqus had scolded him more, he'd be standing here beside her. She took a breath. Master Eraqus was gone. Now Master Aqua had to step up.

She steeled her voice. "Jaune, next time you're covering my back, I want you to do it right." She looked up from her papers, to check his reaction. She'd never given someone instructions before.

Oh. Yes she had. Terra. And that had ended their friendship. She swallowed, wondered if she'd pushed him away again.

Jaune nodded, embarrassed. "Yeah. I will."

Aqua took another breath, resumed drawing. "Mister Branwen?"

"Qrow," he corrected. "And I think it's my turn to ask questions. You said Ritual. Did someone do this to us?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Can you give me any details?"

"Like what?"

"Like a name."

She looked at Qrow's back. He kept guard, staring into the darkness. The way Terra used to. She looked at Jaune, and could imagine Ventus in his place, twirling a dandelion in his fingers and finding meaning in the flower.

"Well, every world has a Heart, just like a person. And every Heart is protected by a lock. Keyblades can manipulate those locks safely. But if you don't have a Keyblade, and you really want access to the Heart of a world..."

Qrow finished, "You smash the lock."

"Right. So somebody got murdered. That's for sure. Someone that everybody cared about."

"And this ritual," Qrow asked. "Does it happen on top of a tower?"

No. But what an oddly specific question to ask. Aqua looked at Qrow again. Then at Jaune, where she read that he had a very precise idea in his mind about the event in question.

Jaune asked, "Someone killed-"

He licked his lips, spent a long time staring at the flower. "Someone destroyed Vale, for _What_ exactly?"

Aqua set down her pencil. "I don't know. But if they accessed the heart of the world, they would have a lot of power. For a little while anyway. Before they turned it to darkness. But that would have happened by now. Your world is broken, but the heart hasn't fallen. So I don't know."

Jaune was pacing angrily. "But that person is Evil, right? There's no question?"

In a cynical tone, Qrow grumbled, "That would make things simple and clean."

Aqua shied, "Evil… Is a strong label, Jaune. Are you sure you're not just looking for an excuse to hate someone?"

Jaune looked up from his flower. "And what's wrong with that? Hating someone who's Evil?"

Aqua picked up her pencil and resumed drawing. And from memory, she recited, "If only it were all so simple. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

"During the life of any heart this line keeps changing place; sometimes it is squeezed one way by exuberant evil and sometimes it shifts to allow enough space for good to flourish. One and the same human being is, at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being. At times he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood. But his name doesn't change, and to that name we ascribe the whole lot, good and evil."

Qrow cast a smirk. "You've got a way with words, Aqua."

"It's from a book. I didn't write it."

She didn't believe it, either. She used to. But now, her heart sided with Jaune. Xehanort was a force of Evil, not a person. She could show him no love. Not like she had for her friends.

But could she bring herself to hate her enemies? For a moment, she let her heart tell her. Who had she met that she could truly hate?

Master Eraqus, who she'd trusted to raise her. Who she'd trusted to raise her friends.

Her hands tensed and made jagged lines among those guided by smoother emotions.

And her hate, now released, grew.

She hated Ventus, for his disobedience.

She hated Terra, for his steady and premeditated descent into darkness. She remembered their last friendly meeting, at Cinderella's ball. She wanted to reach out and stop him from leaving. She wanted to reach out and strike him.

She hated herself for letting everything that mattered slip away.

The pencil tip snapped. Aqua sighed and reached for the sharpener.

Qrow grumbled, "Good and evil aren't useful terms, Jaune. Go with whatever keeps you going. Protect your family and friends."

Aqua couldn't spend her whole night on her problems. She had to focus. Glancing over to Jaune, she noticed that he'd balled his fists. In his hatred, he'd forgotten the flower in his grip. His hand relaxed, and he looked at the destruction he'd caused.

He caught her watching him. "Hey, Aqua? How long were you in that place I rescued you from?"

How long, indeed? _Ten, years_. She still couldn't believe it. "Too long."

"And what kept you going?"

She placed a hand on her Wayfinder, and remembered long moments in the darkness, when she would clutch this charm and count the passage of time in heartbeats.

Terra.

Ventus.

626.

Zack.

Levity tickled her dimples. She owed Zack a date. A celebration. But she couldn't feel his heart anymore. That had faded at some point. And now she could only wonder. Had he forgotten her? Her smile faded.

To Jaune, she said, "My friends are still fighting. They're depending on me."

Jaune nodded. "You remind me of someone," he grinned.

"Yeah," she said. "You too."

Aqua leaned back from her work. "There. I can almost guarantee anyone who fell off of Remnant will pass through Olympus Coliseum. _IF_ they survive."

"They did," Qrow and Jaune said in unison.

"Good," Aqua nodded. "I can take us there on my glider after I've slept."

Footsteps. They turned to see Rufus carrying a tray to them. He had a canvas tucked under his arm.

"You've all had a long day! Mister Branwen, you almost died, remember? And Miss Aqua, I've made a room for you."

"Oh. Thank you."

Rufus set the tray down and distributed tea.

"I'll stay up till about one," Qrow offered. "Jaune, you take over after that. I'll catch shut-eye 'till you and Aqua head out."

Rufus turned to Aqua. "Are you… Leaving?"

Aqua huddled to her tea and blew on it. "There are more Huntsmen trapped in the darkness. We're going to see if we can bring them back. Though… We also need to think about stopping this world from falling into The End."

Qrow shook his head. "You get four huntsmen to agree on something, it gets done. Bring that team back and they'll help you save Remnant."

Rufus smiled. "Oh, bless you, Miss Aqua! There aren't many people who stop to help a struggling town."

"He's not wrong," Qrow whispered to his tea.

Aqua admitted, "Something else is bothering me. Remnant is leaning into The End. I don't understand why."

Jaune shrugged. "Well, someone broke our magic heart lock or something, right?"

Aqua shook her head. "This world's Heart hasn't fallen to darkness. So… What's pulling us in? Who's manufacturing Heartless? Why did someone try to reach the heart of the world?"

Rufus asked, "Could it have something to do with the large chains in the sky?"

Everyone looked at him.

Aqua asked, "The what?"

"The giant, ultraviolet chains in the sky."

Aqua looked up, didn't see.

Qrow chuckled, "Faunus can see ultraviolet."

"Really?" Aqua and Jaune asked.

Rufus pulled the canvas from under his arm. "Here. I sketched it."

Everyone's jaws dropped. He was a damn good artist.

He'd drawn Aqua at an easel, painting the night sky. Colossal chains pulled taught towards The End. Though… Aqua was the focus.

She blushed into her tea.


	6. Valkyrie

Nora Valkyrie landed in a bed of flowers.

She lay there for a long time, staring up at a vaulted ceiling, at the hole she'd put in it. And past that, at the night sky.

She wondered: That was a hard landing, right? Too hard? Or had the ceiling slowed her enough?

She wiggled her toes in her boots.

She remembered that half her classmates were dead. Whole teams of huntsman were annihilated along with her country. And among them, Pyrrha. Her heart ached.

Nora sniffed back her tears. She was going to Mistral, with Ruby and Jaune and… And Ren. She still had Ren. She could keep on going as long as she had Ren.

Her aura sparkled and tingled, suddenly reforming along her body with a hushed _whoosh._

Her senses refocused. Here and now.

The flower bed.

The ceiling.

The night sky.

That couldn't be right; it was daytime. Had she passed out? Where was the moon?

Stars twinkled in space.

Doves passed over the building.

She couldn't see the shattered moon, but rays of pale light angled through the hole and illuminated dust in the air.

In the heavens, a star flickered, then extinguished.

And then the pain of impact thrummed through her body.

Nora groaned "OOOOoooooowwwww."

She stretched, grunting and groaning like a boar.

Purple petals. Jaune had shown these to everyone. Proof they were near Shion.

But where the heck was Jaune?

Where the heck was Nora?

She sat up and dusted her pink combat skirt, then hefted Magnhild. The Grenadier Warhammer wasn't dented, and neither was she.

She reassured herself, "Any landing you can fight from…"

Her voice echoed in the hall, over pews, around columns.

She stood and looked at the altar.

This was a chapel. With a flowerbed in the center.

The doors creaked open, and a woman entered in a raspberry dress, ankle length. Russet hair down to her waist. Green eyes. An empty hand basket.

She stopped in the entryway, bewildered.

Nora connected the handbasket and the flowerbed, and realized, "Oh. Uh. Sorry." She stepped out of the crushed shrubbery and scratched the back of her head. "Sorry about your flowers. I didn't mean to… Where am I?"

The flower girl stepped into the moonlight and smiled at Nora. Not the way you smile at someone who's okay.

Softly, she answered, "My name is Aeris. And this world is Traverse Town."

They stared at each other.

Aeris clasped her hands together and forced a brighter smile.

Nora asked, "This _what?"_

Aeris' smile soured down to sympathy. She cringed. "May I ask… What do you call the world you live on?"

Nora peered at her. "Are you okay in the head?"

Aeris looked down, licked her lips, then looked up with her smile renewed. "I came here to pick some flowers," she decided. "If you can wait for a moment, then I can show you around. It might be easier that way."

"We're near Shion, right?" Nora pointed at the flowers.

"These are Shions," Aeris nodded. She knelt beside undamaged blooms and collected them into her basket.

Nora scratched her head. Shion was supposed to be a village. How did it have a cathedral? How did she fall through the roof? Where was the team? Where was this place?

Aeris collected a few flowers, gently snipping the stems.

Nora checked the chapel's shadows for motion. Weren't there Grimm nearby? Wasn't there a fight? She cupped her hands and shouted at the hole in the ceiling. "Ren? Ruby? Anybody?"

Aeris flinched, tossed her a sympathetic glance, then stood from her gathering, and gestured out the front. "Shall we?"

They pushed open the doors.

Traverse _Town_.

Nora raised her eyebrows at an urban center, raised her chin to look up eight-floor buildings made of red tile roofs and gray brick. A banner atop the skyline waved in the wind.

The cobblestone street was flat and neat as if machined. Gas street lamps with warped stems brought heat and light to the city night.

It sounded like the Vytal Festival, all commotion and motion. And the people dressed just as oddly. No two outfits seemed to match. Cultures and colors clashed like a patched blanket.

It smelled like a faunus labor camp. Like sweat and desperation.

Aeris walked briskly, made her way through crowds and foot traffic with elegant posture. Nora tried to keep up while she took in the sights. Every public wall was covered- layers deep- in missing persons posters.

Down winding streets and across unorthodox intersections, they arrived at a building- cozy like a cottage, but decorated as a place of business.

Aeris stopped at the door to dust her shoes.

Nora squinted at the business cottage, then read the sign above. "H. B. R. C…" She wasn't good at this kind of thing. She folded her arms and asked, "What color is that?"

Aeris raised her eyebrows. "Hm?"

"HBRC. That's a huntsman team, right?"

Aeris cringed again. "Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee." She pushed open the door and invited Nora to follow her.

Nora hated waiting rooms. Like post offices, but only for bad news. This one didn't have any plants. Just strange paintings on the wall- the kind that can't offend or delight.

She tested the traction under her boots. Carpet. Nice carpet. Looking down, she noted a dirt clod on her shin. Just an hour ago, she'd been walking in sunshine and wilds. Where was she now? And when? It looked like midnight outside. Had she hit her head in the fall?

And why was Aeris so shy about the issue?

Nora nervously pressed her toe into the carpet, eyes traversing this clinically comforting room. "Sooooo… Hollow- HB- thing. You guys fix castles?"

Aeris was distracted. Behind the greeting desk, she'd stopped at a framed picture: a young man with spiky, black hair and a cavalier smile. Vases flanked the picture, and Aeris replaced their flowers with those she'd picked.

Jaune had explained the blooms' meaning: _I Won't Forget You_.

Her ritual maintenance complete, Aeris set her basket on the desk, and gestured for Nora to approach. "So, what do you think of the town?" Aeris opened a drawer and slowly hefted a huge book from it.

"Uhhh…" Nora put her hands on the desk. "It's, uh, great? It's big! I've never heard of it. Are we… Where are we? Are we in Menagerie or something? Was I, like, in a coma for a month? I had a friend that happened to. Stop me if I'm talking too much, I'm kinda nervous right now. Who's he?"

Nora pointed at the picture.

Aeris looked at the picture. "Zack," she answered. "Zack Faire. He was… He's a hero."

Her gaze lingered. As if looking away was painful. But looking was more painful. She wrested herself from memories, and looked down at her open drawer. At the big book.

She hefted it onto the desk with a thump, then carefully opened it. The weight of so many pages was difficult on the spine.

"There," she sighed. "Now, where did you say you were from? Before we take your message, I find it's easiest to review others first. This can speed up the process. You know, in case your friends have left a message already."

"The Process. Right." Nora looked at the pages.

She saw a word in bold: Vvardenfell. Was that near Vacuo?

Then came names she couldn't pronounce, and messages beside each.

"Vale," she answered. "I'm from Vale."

Aeris licked her thumb and turned back the massive page.

These names, and the missing persons, connected in Nora's mind. She wondered if they ever connected in real life.

And the night sky looked so odd. Something was menacing about it. Too dark. Too… Something was missing from it. The moon. The whole damn moon! Its asteroids and wreckage. She hadn't seen any of it.

Nora stepped back from the counter. Her heart thrummed like a heavy drum.

This wasn't happening. She'd probably landed on her head and was having a bad dream. But then why had she fallen in the first place? Maybe those really _weren't_ safe mushrooms they'd eaten last night.

Or, maybe, this was real, and she was never going to see her friends again. Not any of them. No more Pyrrha. No more Ren.

Exactly five weeks ago, she'd looked up from a game on her scroll, high-fived Pyrrha, and tried her luck at a faire grounds competition. Her worst problem in life was _What if I'm not popular?_

She covered her mouth, tried to hide her panic.

Everything was falling apart.

Aeris had her head down in the book. "Let's see… V… Valinor… Vaaaale…?"

Aeris had never heard of Vale. It was clear in her tone. And the whole damn moon was missing from the sky. Or, maybe this was a different sky. Exactly how lost was Nora?

Aeris looked up from her list. "Does your world have an alternate name?"

Nora swallowed. "Umm… Q-Quick question… Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? Because, I always imagined-"

Aeris shook her head. "No. We're… We're alive. We're the survivors. But you're coming closer to understanding. Do you mind if I tell you? Are you okay with… Talking about this now?"

"By ' _Tell_ ' me… You mean tell me what's going on?" Nora felt dizzy. This was gonna be weird and uncomfortable, she knew. She folded her arms. "We're not on Remnant. Are we?"

Aeris asked "Remnant?" without a hint of recognition.

Nora took a knee, to avoid falling over. "Hoooo boy," she strained.

Aeris flipped through the big book. "R… R… Rapture… Rivia… Oops… Remnant! And look, I have several entries already! We might have you back with friends in no time!" She forced a practiced smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Nora didn't answer. She'd believed, with Ruby, that they could go to Mistral and finish their training. That they could walk there without a compass. She'd used exactly the phrase, "I mean, come on! How lost can we get?"

Well…

Aeris leaned over the desk to smile down at her. "Do you know anyone named…" she checked her book and sounded out "Yang Xiao Long?"

So she wasn't alone. Nora nodded. "Yeah. She's my teammate's sister. Is she here?"

Aeris consulted the book. "Miss Blake Belladonna left a message for her. It just says, 'I'm sorry.' Could you pass that along if you find her?"

Nora rested her face in her hand. "Sorry doesn't cut it. Yang would probably punch me if I said that."

Aeris frowned. "It's important that we-"

"I'll tell Yang she said hi." Nora sighed. She didn't want to get up from the floor.

Aeris looked upset with her, but diverted her glare to the book again. "How about a Miss Neapolitan?"

Nora shook her head.

"Roman Torchwick?"

"Ruby watched him get eaten by a Griffon, so… He's dead."

 _Survivors_ , Aeris had said. _We're the survivors._ So what exactly had happened to Vale? To Remnant? To Vvard-whatever and these countless other worlds?

What had Cinder done? And why? Why in the hell would someone murder Pyrrha and destroy a whole world?

Aeris asked "How about Mercury Black? Does that ring a bell?"

Nora knew that name very well. All of Remnant knew that name. Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black were a team. They were responsible.

She felt something cold and calculating assuming control of her. It had focus, like when she was studying; passion, like when she courted Ren; and anger, a unique anger that she only felt for those names.

Nora perked up and feigned her normal attitude. "Is he here?"

Aeris nodded. "Yes. But first-"

"Where are they?"

Aeris looked up from the book, concerned. She'd noted the change in tone. Nora scolded herself silently- always wearing her heart on her sleeve. This was a job for Ren.

Aeris asked, "Do you know Mercury?"

Nora took a breath and readied herself for the cold anger, for the discomfort of becoming it and relying on it. She'd once asked Blake what it was like, to be a killer. How to do it, emotionally. She'd described something like this. The calculating predator wore her face and lied, "We're friends."

Aeris looked down into her book. "Mercury left a message for someone named Fall."

Nora stood, no longer dizzy, and repeated, "Where is he?" With perfect innocence.

She felt like she'd swallowed a bug.

Aeris answered, "He's waiting in the non-human quarter with-" but stopped when she looked up. She glanced to Nora's fist- Clenched- then stood straight and backed away.

Nora relaxed her fist. "Look, I wanna see my friends ag-"

"Your eyes," Aeris noted. "They were blue in the chapel."

Nora touched her face. "What?" She shook her head. "Oh. Yeah, my aura turns them green sometimes. Look-"

"They're gold," Aeris corrected. She stepped back again, away from Nora. "I want you to leave."

Nora frowned. "I wanna leave a message for my friends."

The door opened, and a man's boots scraped the entry rug. Nora turned to see spiky, blonde hair, a red scarf, and blue eyes that shone like a huntsman's. Over his shoulder was a sword no normal man could carry.

"Cloud!" Aeris sounded scared. Like he had to save her.

And Cloud seemed poised to do exactly that. He halted when his eyes met Nora's.

"Another one," he noted.

"Another what? What's wrong with my eyes? What do you mean they're golden?"

Cloud held open the door, then gestured through it.

Nora frowned harder. Whatever. There was a faunus district somewhere with Mercury Black in it. That at least gave her something to do. She didn't like that these people didn't like her.

She grumbled, "Sorry I upset you all. Thanks for the help, Aeris."

Aeris didn't answer. She looked at Nora like a Grimm.

Nora walked out, and Cloud shut the door behind her.

The smell hit her again. Desperation. Unkempt city streets. People slept in doorways and piled against streetlamps. They looked as if all hope and motivation had left them.

Of course. Their worlds were destroyed. They were refugees.

Like her.

No. Nora wasn't broken yet. She still had passions. She wished for a second chance to die fighting in Vale. That counted for something. She had to reunite with Ruby and Jaune. And Ren. Her friends would keep her going, too.

And then there was the matter at hand.

The gods had given her enemies, to keep her sharp.

Nora hefted Magnhild.


	7. Traverse Town

Weather rarely changed in Traverse Town. Long-time residents had noticed the wind picking up when newcomers arrived. Flags and whistles on the taller buildings served as alarms, for Heartless often followed those refugees.

A breeze whistled now over 8th District. Feline ears flicked to attention. Their owner, a young huntress, watched Flags atop the tenements rise and flap wildly. She observed the strange city from these rooftops, nameless behind a bone bask, hiding and watching from shadows, living the life she thought she'd left behind.

In Fifth District, Sun Wukong had found a helpful citizen. He asked her for the third time, "Okay, but… _Where_ am I?"

Yuffie squinted at him, then tilted her ear up to the wind-whistles.

In Third District, a lagomorph lifted one rabbitty ear and asked, "Coco? Does that sound like an alarm to you?"

Coco Adel had taken to the city instantly. She was occupied with a hat rack, but noted the shopkeep's worried expression, Then Velvet's.

Coco patted her friend. "Hey. You scared?"

"That sound reminds me of the siren. You know, the breach."

A shadow sped past the storefront.

"Good," Coco nodded. "We won that battle."

She put the new hat atop her head. "I'll pay when I get back," she announced, and sauntered into battle.

The wind carried into Sixth District. There, every dark place shimmered like puddles on moonless nights. Yellow eyes blinked to life. Claws and bodies emerged from the ripples, into the light, and followed their hunger towards hearts. But even beasts like these acknowledged power.

One heart stood out: Driven, angry, and despairing. Instinct bade the shadows slither that way to obey.

A Shadow waddled down the street, to the mouth of an alley, and stared down it. The Shadow did not see crates, nor clothes, nor color. Three hearts beat in the alleyway. Two turned to it, then accelerated in fear.

The third reassured them, "The Grimm won't hurt us. Not while we've got Salem's blessing. Isn't that right, little shadow?"

The Shadow had once spoken and understood words. It had been born and given a name. In death, it only consumed and obeyed and crawled towards the darkest places. And this was not the darkest place. It turned and carried on down the street, towards the heart that stood out.

It turned down another alley, and there found Nora Valkyrie. She knelt with her kit laid out on a blanket, carefully mixing Dust into a 40mm grenade.

On a long gone day, she'd picked a pink and white combat dress. Later, she'd asked a tailor to add a heart-shaped keyhole where cleavage met chest. She'd looked cute then. She hadn't known that her dear friend Pyrrha would immolate and gasp and choke on her own cooked flesh while-

Nora looked up at the Shadow. "Stop that," she ordered.

The Shadow blinked. Nora finished pouring her mixture, then screwed the payload shut and found a hex wrench to secure it with. As she reached across her kit, a burning tear fell from her cheek.

"I don't have time for you," she explained. She hefted Mjolnir, cracked the revolver action, and began loading her custom rounds.

The Shadow waited patiently for its orders. On instinct, it reached out again for her heart, to the day Pyrrha said, "We're friends, right? Can you keep a secret?"

Nora brushed a hair behind her head and blushed. Her first friend at Beacon! This was wild!

"Y-Yeah- YES! OH MY GOSH YES! But not- haha- you know, in an overbearing or creepy way, oh no you've got an expression like it's creepy. Sorry, Pyrrha."

And Pyrrha, Saint Nikos, who loved the world and everyone in it, giggled along with her.

"Oh gosh, you too? I feel so anxious. I mean, I'm away from home- not for the first time or anything- I'm not sheltered. But… I don't know, it's good to have friends. And I feel like… Well, we're teammates!" She beamed.

Nora beamed back. Really smiled the way that she couldn't fake. And to commemorate this moment, she shouted, "YeeeaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH! BEST BUDDIES!"

Pyrrha laughed and added, "Hurrah!"

"So," Nora remembered, "Why do you ask? You got a secret I have to keep? Is it your crush on Jaune?"

Pyrrha blushed and hid her terror behind a biology textbook. "N-No," she whispered hoarsely.

Nora plowed on. "Well then, what is it?"

"It's, um…" She lowered the textbook. Gone was her mirth and embarrassment. Her face as it was the last time their eyes met: City lights, the night rain, a bleeding scratch, her pain.

"I want you to avenge me, Nora."

Nora lashed out at the Shadow. "I said stop that!"

Her fist knocked it onto its back. The Shadow stood again, and offered out its clawed hand. Offered, she realized, its claws. Another shadow entered the alley. Then two more. They each stopped before her, repeating the gesture.

She waved them off. "Go stand over there!"

They all hustled to where she pointed.

Nora wiped the tears from her eyes. She had to focus. To remember her plan. If she made any mistakes against Mercury Black, she would die.

She had to win. This was her duty as a Huntsman. To save lives, sometimes you had to take lives. If she didn't kill everyone in Mercury Black's gang, and everyone in the White Fang, and everyone in Torchwick's Gang, and everyone with Cinder Fall, then they would go on to hurt more people. They would kill Pyrrha all over again. Someone else's Pyrrha. Someone else's mother or father or whole city.

Nora looked at the Shadows again. Their little troop had bunched up where she'd ordered. They'd obeyed her.

She pointed across the alleyway. "Move there."

They did, all hustling, then stopping and waiting.

The Grimm... Obeyed her. She'd heard rumors about Cinder Fall. She'd heard fables from the distant past. In all of these stories, such power belonged only to the evilest of intents. Vengeful spirits and obsessed evildoers. And every one of them had had their way.

Nora smiled. Really smiled the way you can't around your friends, lips curling and twitching. She was going to lead an army of Grimm and attack a city and get her revenge.

She shook her head. This sounded familiar. This sounded way too familiar. But she was the good guy. She had to remember that she was in the right, here. Mercury Black was the bad guy and if she didn't stop him, then was she ever _really_ Pyrrha's friend?

She didn't know. She couldn't tell where her anger stopped and pure darkness began. Where was the limit of her righteous fury, the ledge past which she dare not stray?

Boots hit cobble down the street. Someone was coming, but not from Mercury's direction. And here Nora was, commanding Grimm and looking like a bad guy.

She hissed at the monsters, " _Hide_ ," and marveled at their speed. They flattened into proper shadows, and slithered into natural darkness. They'd left no footprints, no scratches from their claws on the cobblestones. Only that sick feeling squirming in her chest proved they remained.

Nora sighed her adrenaline free just as Cloud Strife rounded the corner. A casual pace carrying him to the head of the alleyway. He turned in and murmured, "There you are."

He carried his sword over shoulder like a tree trunk, and wore a scarf to hide all but his eyes. Nora noted the glow behind them.

"You again." She tried not to sneer.

Cloud stopped at a distance and crouched to her level. Examining her kit, he mumbled, "Let me guess: That alley over there with the three tough guys. One of them is Mercury?"

Nora didn't answer. She arranged her tools and started rolling them up.

"Aerith sent me," Cloud explained. "Not to stop you."

"Good." She tied her bundle and stuffed it into her pack.

"She told me about your team. Your world. You've got friends, right?"

If Ruby and Jaune were here, would they stop her? No. Of course not. Ren might hesitate and caution, but he always did that. But then she imagined… What if _She_ were advising _Them_? If Jaune were in this alleyway, planning his assault one street over, what would his face look like? Would she worry that he was on a path to self-destruction?

Nora glared at Cloud, but nodded.

Cloud jerked his thumb down the street. "And you're going to fight this guy without them?"

Could she even kill Mercury Black?

And if she looked in a mirror right now, what would she see through her tears?

She hadn't thought any of this decision through. Maybe Mercury needed to be killed, but she couldn't do that alone. She was here because she wanted revenge.

At Beacon, The elevator from the ground floor to Ozpin's office was about a one minute ride. She wondered what Pyrrha thought on the way up. What she felt. Knowing Pyrrha, there was probably not a single second of doubt.

And even she had fallen.

Nora's tears finally boiled over her cheeks and streamed from her eyes. She cried quietly, sniffling in front of this stranger, and still mourning her months dead friend.

Cloud had a certain generosity in his tone. Warmth. He offered, "I can tell you've never killed a person before. That kind of innocence is worth something, Nora."

She whispered, to not scream. "But they killed her. They took Pyrrha from us. And we're never going to see her again."

The truth, finally, had penetrated hope's last citadel in her heart.

Cloud nodded. He lowered his scarf, to reveal his frown, then offered, "There's a café in 1st district. Come on. Let me tell you about a guy named Zack Fair."


	8. Ren Gets Lost

Lie Ren followed a dirt path through rolling hills. A gust of wind swept over the grass, brushing the blades in its wake. Everything else was still and silent. The sky had brightened in the morning, and darkened in the afternoon- orange hues banded on the horizon- but without a sun in the sky.

At least he wasn't in the dark place anymore.

Looking back, he saw the dirt trail, and the curve of the world.

So he'd put that dark place beyond the horizon, and could finally relax.

His mind wandered to a long distant day, on the way back from some action movie. Jaune had invited Weiss, but she'd rejected him. So Pyrrha had offered to go with him, and Jaune had invited Ren and Nora so it wouldn't look like a date.

And it ended up looking like a double date instead.

After the movie, they walked down main street. The memory was tainted. Ren imagined them stepping over the corpses and ruin as they laughed and reenacted the climactic scene.

"I thought it was cool," Pyrrha chimed.

"It's just not realistic," Jaune complained. He popped a chocolate coated peanut into his mouth and kept talking as he chewed. "I mean, there's no way-"

"Pfffffft!" Nora sprayed spit with her objection.

Ren cringed at his friends. He glanced to Pyrrha and found sympathy there. She usually looked at Jaune like he was special, but seemed sober suddenly.

Nora shouted, "Unrealistic?! He spit the bullet into the chamber! He spit, Jaune! Spitting is realistic! When the bullet goes in the chamber, it can go bang! That's how it works!"

"Yeah, but can anyone really spit that hard?"

Nora snatched a peanut from him, popped it into her mouth, and then spit it into his eye.

Jaune recoiled from the pain and slapped a hand over his face. "Oww!"

Ren pinched the bridge of his nose, and solemnly closed his eyes.

Pyrrha tried to contain herself, but burst into laughter.

They spent the rest of the night practicing at the firing range. Spitting bullets at empty guns.

By coincidence, Team RWBY had the range booked for training. Blake tilted her head at their display, and Weiss drew back in horror. But Ruby lit up with excitement and shouted, "Oh waitwaitwait, I know how to do this, I just saw that movie too!" She got a running start and put a bolt of saliva through a holo-target at ten meters.

"She gets it!" Nora shouted. "From the front! You gotta put all your spit in the front!"

Yang calmly stepped up to Ren's side and put a twenty-two in her mouth. She flashed a wink to Ren, "Pardon," and spit the round through the bullseye at twenty yards.

She tipped an imaginary cowboy hat. "Y'all have a nice day."

What Nora had tried to explain, Yang had demonstrated- her lips and tongue flicking into positions he memorized. Ren put a round in his mouth, held his SMG at arm's length, and spit the bullet into the chamber.

The action slid forward, he pulled the trigger, and the five-hundred meter target lit up.

Jaune gaped. Pyrrha gave two thumbs up.

Nora looked like Ren had blown out her birthday candles. "Ren! Come on!"

"What?"

"You have to say the line from the movie! That's the whole point! It's not practical, it's COOOOOOOOOOOL!"

Ren stared at her for a long time, thinking, until he admitted, "I don't remember the line."

These memories hurt.

Ren stopped on this dirt road from darkness to nowhere, and knelt so he wouldn't fall.

A tear escaped.

For the first time, he understood despair. The vast gulf below him into which he could fall- into which many had fallen before.

"Never stop," he told himself. "Keep moving forward."

He stood and took his next step, and then he stopped.

Not a meter ahead of him, the ground ended.

He leaned over the cliff and looked down. This was not a canyon; there was no other side. Just an abyssal blue gradient.

Ren blinked into the void and chewed the inside of his cheek. This had snuck up on him. He wasn't paying enough attention.

Finding the end of the world was weird. Its abrupt appearance was weird, too. Weirder still was the dirt trail, which continued into the void, unsupported by land.

At the trail's end was a castle, an architectural blasphemy that offended all structural sense. Walls jagged paradoxically, turrets rose every direction but up.

Ren squinted. This wasn't a good place to stop. But the light was fading fast, and this was the end of the trail.

He mumbled, "I have a bad feeling about this," and then did what he had to.

As he approached the castle, it didn't grow. It wasn't large and distant. It was a hundred meters away and just that small. There wasn't even space between the wall and the structures. It was all one building.

The turrets and spires could maybe fit a cramped person. The keep was large enough to be a living room. Instead of a portcullis, stone double doors offered an entrance.

Ren scratched his neck.

This building looked like a child's drawing of a castle.

He knocked on the door.

No answer.

He pressed a hand to the door, and it yielded.

Ren stepped inside, onto a perfectly white floor. He looked at perfectly white walls, up perfectly white columns- up, up, and up to a perfectly white ceiling.

The castle was a lot bigger on the inside.

The door shut behind him and made a perfectly white wall.

"Oh," Ren breathed. The word echoed in the atrium.

A black cloud answered him, swirling into existence, spiraling until it filled an oval large enough for a person to step through. And into this white room came a black cloaked stranger.

 _Male_ , Ren intuited. _Posture, torso shape._

Then, beside this stranger, a second portal opened, and into the room stepped another black cloaked figure.

Cloak Number Two rested a hand on her hip like a haughty model.

Ren's eyes danced over these threats, adrenaline driving his mind into action.

They both used portals. The chances of two huntsmen having the same, or even similar semblances, was astronomically low. It just didn't happen- not even to twins. Semblance was an expression of the very soul. So these portals… Were something else.

The strangers' cloaks and hoods disguised much, but revealed muscles on both figures' arms. Ren saw no bulges where armor would be, and few places to hide weapons except in the bells of the sleeves.

They were watching him in kind. Ren pulled his dimples back and offered a slight bow, never lowering his eyes. "My name is Lie Ren, which means Ardent Lotus. I'm a Student from Beacon Academy. Nice to meet you."

The woman turned to the man and asked, "Axel? What's a person doing here?"

Ren stood from his bow, sheepishly scratching his head. "I'm… A little lost."

Axel lowered his hood, and a long mane of blazing red hair fell free. Green eyes. Vertical stripes on his cheekbones. He smirked, "You're a _little_ lost? Buddy, Castle Oblivion is as lost as you can get in the whole universe."

Ren shrugged. "I'm… Very lost."

The woman hissed, "You're not supposed to show him your face, Axel!"

Axel turned a grin to her. "And you're not supposed to tell him my name, _Larxene_."

She threw back her hood. Blonde hair, jagged like lightning bolts. Electric Blue eyes.

Larxene scowled at him, and the scowl was made all the more ugly by how beautiful her face was. She hissed, "What are you doing, Axel?"

"Answering the door," he drawled.

While they were distracted in a silent staring match, Ren glanced to the door-wall.

Still a wall.

He needed another exit. Could he break through? The door had been only two inches thick, but maybe that had changed. And he didn't know the material.

Ren looked across the room. White walls. A massive, white door on the far wall. Though that probably lead somewhere harder to escape.

A month ago, he'd scoffed at fairy tale thinking. A month ago, Pyrrha would've giggled along with him. Now he knew better; Fairy tales got people killed.

The room's other feature was the marble columns. Equally spaced, every four meters.

The floor was uniform and white- no markings to distinguish traps from safe footing. No irregularities on the pillars. Nothing here gave the home team an advantage in a fight. And only two people to greet him? This wasn't a trap.

Larxene spoke first. "This is a big problem, Axel."

"Problem?" Axel asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, "It's a problem, moron." She nodded to Ren. "We can't have Somebodies wandering around here."

In their facial twitches, Ren saw true animosity guiding the conversation. Larxene and Axel didn't like each other, didn't trust each other, and didn't respect each other.

And yet they loved invading each others' personal space. Larxene always leaned in as if for a kiss.

Axel tilted his head as if to bite her neck. "We can't let anybody know what we're doing here. But this one _doesn't_ know, _moron_."

Ren had seen this exact body language between Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. Adrenaline kept flooding him, and his spit turned loose. He swallowed and stretched his fingers, kept a mellow and diplomatic smile in place.

Larxene didn't have a response. She wanted to, but, frustrated, she snorted, "I only answered the doorbell because I was bored, anyway."

Axel winked at her, then turned back to Ren. "So how'd you find this place? Where did you come from, Ren?"

Larxene didn't like being ignored. She took an exaggerated step, and began marching perpendicular to the conversation- expressing her boredom like a spoiled child.

Ren watched her as he answered Axel. "I'm from Vale."

"Which Vale?"

Ren raised an eyebrow at Axel. "Uh… The City? You know, the one that Grimm destroyed a few months ago?"

Larxene pivoted on a heel and continued her pacing. "Never heard of it," she chimed. She folded her arms, and her fingers tapped out a beat against her bicep.

 _Taptap. Taptap. Taptap._

Ren thought broader. "Uh… Vale as in… Sanus? You know… The continent?"

Axel's eyes danced. He frowned and shook his head. "Sorry. Nope."

 _Taptap. Taptap. Taptap._

Ren tried, "Uh… Heard of… Remnant?"

"Awww…" Larxene cooed, "Heartless destroyed his world and he didn't make it to Traverse Town!"

 _Taptap. Taptap._

It was a heartbeat.

She was tapping out Ren's own heartbeat. From across the room. He skipped a beat, and so did she, keeping perfect pace.

Larxene pulled a dimple sharply up her cheek, as if drawing a blade. She pivoted on her heel, revealing her other side, and Ren spotted four slivers of metal, gripped between her knuckles. She inspected the blades like painted nails. Her pacing continued, faux-innocent.

Axel, still grinning, offered his commiseration. "Boy, there's bad luck and then there's Bad Luck, you know?"

Bad luck? The conversation. Larxene had said Remnant was destroyed, and that Ren didn't arrive at… ?

Ren turned to Axel and pretended to be unfazed. "Yeah. Bad luck," Ren admitted. "Could you point me to Traverse Town?"

Axel had a penetrating gaze. He was thinking, just like Ren, sizing up the situation- he wasn't relaxed and confident, like Larxene. Axel smiled at a realization, then covered it with an act.

He shrugged, "Sorry, stranger. I like your manners, and it's been fun chatting. But-" he held out his hands, "And, hey, nothing personal, alright? But the thing is, nobody is supposed to know that Nobodies are here. And now you do. So… "

Axel shrugged.

Larxene smiled, joy spreading on her features. "We have to kill you now! Sorry! Boss' orders!"

They didn't immediately lunge at him, and they were loose with information, which Ren needed. So he asked, "Larxene, right?"

"He's quick with names," Axel noted.

Larxene didn't like Ren's quickness as much. "Who said you could talk to me?"

"You called me a Somebody," Ren reminded her. He turned to Axel. "And you called yourself Nobodies. What does that mean?"

Axel raised an eyebrow. "You've never heard of Nobodies?"

He waited for an answer.

"No." Ren shook his head.

"Of course he hasn't," Larxene sneered. "Most people haven't."

"Most people don't end up in Castle Oblivion," Axel countered.

Larxene rolled her eyes. "Axel, come ON! Why are we still talking to him?"

Axel turned his chin her way, but not his eyes. "Larxy, patience. You said you were bored, right?"

Larxene flexed her fingers, spreading the kunai knives gripped between her knuckles. "Fine," she snorted. And in the moment she snorted, something very interesting caught Ren's eye. Electricity arced along the tips of her blades, expressing her frustration.

Ren memorized his battle space, wondered how Blake would hide in this place- how Pyrrha would fight- how Nora would destroy the building- how Jaune would manage their tactical options. He took a deep breath and thought about his weapons.

His SMGs were low on ammunition. Three mags of lead rounds might get him through this fight, but then what? And for all he knew, there were more than two of these people.

"So…" Ren asked, stalling for time. "What are Nobodies?"

Axel unzipped his cloak enough to reveal a well-muscled chest. He poked his skin, over the left breast. "We've got no hearts. We're what happens when a Heartless kills a person who's still got work to do in this world. The kind of person who's just not ready to die, you know?"

As he spoke, Larxene slinked back to one of the marble columns and leaned against it, watching with half-lidded eyes, rolling a blade between her knuckles like a coin. She was waiting her turn to play.

Ren forced a smile. Maybe Diplomacy was still an option. "It sounds like a really convoluted way of saying you're a ghost."

Axel wore a new smile, one that fit very well on the woman beside him. He looked at Ren like a meal- the way Cinder had always stared at Pyrrha- and asked, "A ghost, huh?" Axel rolled that look over his shoulder to Larxene. "What do you think of that, Larxy?"

Larxene stepped backwards around the pillar, out of view. And she didn't return.

Smiling lips brushed Ren's ear from behind.

"Boo," Larxene whispered.

His heart skipped, but he steadied it. Twice now she'd used the portal trick. But this time, out of his view. She wanted to hide the mechanism- something about how it works. But he'd already seen it once. Had she forgotten? Maybe she wasn't thinking about this as much as Ren was.

She hadn't noticed that Axel wanted her to start the fight while he watched. She hadn't noticed that Axel was manipulating her.

Ren calmly turned to look at Larxene, to show her that he wasn't afraid. "You don't feel like a ghost."

Her smile curdled and faded in disappointment. She held out her palms and shrugged. "Axel, this isn't fun at all."

Axel stared at Ren, silently thinking. Then he decided, "Okay. I guess we're wasting time. Go ahead and kill him."

Ren kept his heart steady. Larxene was watching him for a reaction- for her amusement. And perhaps Axel had that same strange ability. How were they sensing his heartbeat? If Axel was telling the truth about their nature… Ren had a plan.

He put up his hands sadly. "I'm afraid I won't be much fun to kill. I'm unarmed, so I can't fight you."

Larxene's posture deflated in disappointment. She flicked annoyance to Axel. "Aren't you supposed to clean up the trash? We're the ones doing all the searching, you know. You should pull your weight around here."

Axel offered, "Hey, maybe we can give Ren here a world card and he can go looking for the hidden room."

"You're deflecting my questions, Axel," Larxene accused. "Why did Superior really send you here?"

The rift between them was deep enough to exploit. And Larxene had already revealed three of her tricks. Electricity, the portal trick, and the ability to detect Ren's heartbeat. He knew how to fight her now.

Axel, meanwhile, had seen through Ren's act at harmlessness. He would stay out of the fight until Ren had revealed his own tricks against Larxene.

Leaving Ren vulnerable to this man who had revealed nothing.

"I mean come on, Axel. I've been poking around this stupid labyrinth of a castle trying to map shifting rooms for how long now? Do we even know if this room exists? Then you show up here, you don't help us search- All you do is talk to people! It's like you're on a witch hunt! Then that twerp with the keyblade shows up, and you've got us following him around to see his progress-"

Ren scooted his hind foot forward and planted it while Larxene was distracted. If she took another step forward, he'd be able to kick a kiloton of force into her chin.

Axel folded his arms. "-Larxy, I- Larxene! You don't have to yell. Superior sent me here to baby sit you because he knew you were slacking, okay?"

"Why do I have to take out the trash?" She gestured at Ren.

Axel pointed at her aggressively. "Hey, you said you were bored, and I gave you something to do. No more complaining."

Larxene peered at him. "Maybe I have to fight him because you're scared."

It wasn't just when she argued- Larxene always had a forward lean to her posture. Exposed chin. This was coming together well. At this range, Ren could tell the kunai knives were unpowered. His aura would hold if she landed any hits. The electricity was a concern, but he only needed to land this first hit to win.

"I'm cautious," Axel corrected.

"Why? He's a teenager, Axel. He's a kid."

"So's the keyblader. But both of them wandered through the corridors of darkness and made it to Castle Oblivion unscathed."

Larxene suddenly wised up, straightening her posture and viewing Ren with sudden suspicion.

Axel finished, "So go on, get him. I wanna see what this guy's deal is."

Ren shrugged, "Well, I-"

Larxene lunged. Ren kicked.

Her reaction time was instant. The speed of her dodge was preternatural. He noted her eyes glancing down, her body leaning right just as his heel flew up and grazed her cheek.

She swung like a street fighter- straight jabs relying on the blades.

Ren responded in kind, converting his momentum to a backflip and escaping her punches. Lightning sizzled the air where he'd been.

He found his feet and triggered his sleeve-holsters. Dual SMGs landed in his grips, and he spent two mags on Larxene, center mass.

And then he stared, past smoking barrels, at a ghost.

The bullets had flown through her like smoke. She hadn't even tickled.

Axel called, "Told ya so."

Larxene sneered, "So what? Come on, kid, is that all you've got? Sorry. Bullets won't cut it."

Next option. Ren dived behind a pillar, breaking line of sight, and holstered an SMG. He reloaded the other with his last mag, and felt a thrill of fear as it clicked home. This was an expensive gambit, and he didn't know if it was going to work.

Larxene laughed harder. "You know we can still see you, right? Your heart stands out like a light in the darkness. I can-"

Ren flexed his Semblance, felt the calm wash over him, and the shroud of stillness cover his heart.

"W-Wait," Larxene asked. "Did his heart just stop?"

"No," Axel mused. "It just vanished."

This was how Ren had wandered the darkness unscathed; By wandering unnoticed.

Ren looked up, where Blake would go next, then hopped high and wall-jumped silently from his pillar to another. With enough distance and jumping, he could maneuver unseen and unheard.

His opponent, meanwhile, wore heels that clicked as she rounded the pillar to where he'd vanished.

Larxene gaped. "He's gone!"

Ren pushed off another pillar, making his grand circle around. The next jump carried him into Axel's view, standing just where he'd started, arms folded, chin cradled in thought. The redhead glanced up at Ren and smirked as he sailed past.

But he uttered no warning to Larxene.

Ren's next jump landed him right behind her.

She swiveled on a heel, and Ren confirmed what he'd seen before, emptying his last magazine. The bullets flew through her, and the SMG clicked empty, ejection port slamming open.

Larxene didn't laugh this time.

"Hope you enjoyed that," she hissed. "Because now you're-"

And here was the gambit. Ren's final trick.

The bullet of last resort, One Schnee Dust Company Burn crystal cut for nine millimeter, tucked into his cheek. Ren spit the bullet. It flew the length of his outstretched arm, clicked into chamber, and primed the action with its inertia.

Nora's voice came to him. "Don't forget to say the line!"

Ren couldn't help himself. He smirked, "Boo."

The bullet pierced Larxene like a burning arrow. Fire spread over her like a net, and her screams echoed through the great hall.

Larxene flailed, trying to pat out the flames across her whole form. She cast out an arm, gesturing for something. And in response came her portal. She fell through to safety, and it closed.

The echoing screams faded.

The remaining sound was a bemused chuckle.

Ren turned to face the new threat.

Axel clapped. "Oh, man. Good show."

Ren offered out his hands, repeating his play at harmlessness. "Sorry, but I'm all out of tricks, and that was my last bullet. If you want to kill me, I-"

"Kill you?! Ha! I ought to buy you a beer! If you're old enough. No… Here."

Axel gestured, just like Larxene had. And a portal opened, just like Larxene's.

"You can leave," Axel offered. He nodded through the portal.

Ren pointed. "Where's that go? Traverse Town?"

Axel cringed. "Traverse Town is a refugee camp. Guys like us don't belong there." His cringe became a smile. "This is a one-way ticket to Olympus Colosseum. You've got people you're looking for, right?"

"Yeah." Ren nodded.

"You've got a chance of finding them there."

Ren waited.

Axel gestured to the portal. "Look, you can't stay."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because you've still got a heart, and you'll fight to keep it."

They stared at each other. A bead of sweat trailed down Ren's temple. "I don't trust you, and I don't want to use your portal," Ren admitted.

Axel pointed through his portal. "I did my part. That portal will close in one minute. If you don't go through it, you will never see your friends alive. And the castle will rob your memories of them."

Axel gestured for another portal and bowed out.


	9. Darkness

Aqua paced in a castle hallway.

Young and inexperienced, she'd meticulously picked her words and practiced them under her breath. Her heart skipped nervously in her throat.

She had to do this. She was right And Master Eraqus said that when you're right, you must act.

Aqua stopped pacing, pulled back her shoulders, lifted her chin, and took a deep breath.

"You're doing this for your friends," she reminded herself.

And then she pushed open the door to Master Eraqus' study.

He smiled warmly, but his expression was soured by the jagged scar falling from his eyebrow to his lip. There, his smile became a grimace.

"Aqua," the old man said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She looked into her hands, folded before her, and held out her first finger, to remember her opening words.

"M-master Eraqus, I-I've been speaking to Ven. Ventus. You tasked me with welcoming him. Making him feel at home. I have. He's really opened up to Terra and I, and… He's started talking more to us."

She extended her second finger. She swallowed. "He's been talking to us about his training under Master Xehanort."

"Aqua," Eraqus sighed. "You understand, I hope, that different masters have different methods. Sometimes a master and a student are not well-matched. Xehanort recognized this. And that is why Xehanort brought Ventus to me."

Aqua had expected to say her piece before being denied. She didn't know what to do now. Her heart kept thrumming, and she couldn't keep her jaw from flexing.

Master Eraqus sensed this hesitation and softened. "I'm sorry. Please continue, Aqua."

She extended her next finger. "You scolded Ventus. Yesterday, when he was having trouble striking the wind chimes."

"Yes?"

Aqua struggled to keep her voice calm, to state this matter-of-factly. "Ventus… He said to us… He was concerned that you might kick him out, and that he would be abandoned somewhere."

"Oh. Oh my. I didn't mean to be-"

"No, Master. He said that… Master Xehanort said to him that a student who does not respond to teaching is worthless. He said Master Xehanort called him… Trash. That he-" she stuttered, "When he brought Ventus to you, he said that if you couldn't teach Ventus, that he had no place in any world."

Master Eraqus had not closed his mouth since being interrupted.

Aqua relaxed her fingers, then hugged herself. She had just accused Eraqus' dearest friend of heinous behavior. And Master Eraqus did not look pleased.

His brow tightened, and his face hardened to a place between pensive and angry. His eyes unfocused, then turned out the window.

Aqua closed hers and bowed. "Master, I apologize for-"

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Aqua," he interrupted.

She looked up. The man was like a rock. Unreadable.

She wanted a confirmation from him. A decision. "Master… Ven is one of us, right? Ven… He's your student, just like Terra and I?"

She'd grabbed his attention. His eyes focused, and he committed, "Yes. Of course. Please, leave me now. You've given me much to think about."

She bowed, then retreated to the door, and escaped.

In the hallway, Terra asked, "How'd it go?"

He'd grown again. They were both hitting their spurts, reaching adulthood and learning to cope. Terra glared at her with his default intensity, waiting for an answer. Aqua brushed her goosebumps away and dusted herself self-consciously.

"I told him. He's still thinking."

She stared back into Terra's eyes, telling him with her silence and uncertainty that she couldn't guess the future, but things were alright, for now. Terra nodded, then looked down.

Spiky, blonde hair entered Aqua's field of view from below.

Ven was looking up at her.

He mumbled, "So… Can I stay?"

She sighed raggedly, and wrapped her arms around him. "Ven… You're not worthless. You and Terra are the most important things to me in all the worlds. And it's going to stay that way forever."

The hug stuffed his face into her belly. He wrestled his way up for air and asked, "You really mean that?"

"I would die for you, Ven. Both of you."

Terra joined embrace, and the oath of love that bound them together. She remembered that moment as her warmest.

Aqua woke with tears streaming down her face.

A thatch ceiling hung above her.

Slowly, her senses returned.

The bed- a cot- had no mattress. Her body ached as soon as it reported. She yawned, then stretched, until the fatigue of the last ten years creaked in her sinews.

Through the window, she saw a meadow in bloom. Last night, she'd plotted the starts from there. This village, _Shion_ , was named after those flowers.

She'd traced her finger over an illustration of the petals before. The name meant, "I won't forget you."

Her ears awoke, and she heard a woman giving instructions.

"Swing!"

Jaune grunted.

"Swing!"

Grunt.

Aqua sat up to the window and peered down. Jaune was practicing with his sword. The voice came from a device he'd propped onto a nearby crate. He'd called the device a Scroll. It held the image of a young woman, and carried her voice.

"Swing!"

"Yah!"

The swing was good. He understood that the sword's tip was his weapon. And he swung to kill, flicking sweat from his arm in the motion.

From the scroll, a girl encouraged him. "That's a hundred reps! Great work, Jaune!"

Ven had started this way. Swinging at air, then bonking those silly wind chimes. Jaune, like Ven, was doomed.

Jaune wasn't going to find his friends; not the way he remembered them. Ten years would pass, and if they reunited, maybe it wouldn't even be as friends. If Aqua carried Jaune into the big bad universe, changing wouldn't be his problem. He'd die. Just like his world was dying.

Aqua had no pity to spare for doomed people, nor for doomed worlds. She had to think about herself and her friends. Radiant Gardens lay within her reach. She had to rescue Terra.

She could take Jaune to Radiant Gardens on the pretense of searching for his friends. He wouldn't know any better.

Aqua had been staring out the window, looking down on Jaune like a bug.

She refocused on her reflection in the window's pane- on scowling lips and a contorted frown. This expression was uglier than she'd ever imagined herself. Flame danced in her pupils.

Her irises glowed like molten bronze.

Aqua woke with a gasp.

Goosebumps spread across her arms. She sat up in bed and rubbed them away.

As she blinked her dreariness away, she felt the night's tears crusted on her eyelids.

The desire to save her friends remained. But it no longer possessed her. Duty reasserted itself. There was a proper order to things. And as a keyblade Master, her place in that grand order was here, where a keyblade master was needed.

She had to rescue Jaune's friends so that they could rescue their world.

She had to do the right thing, or she was going to do something very wrong. She could feel it within her, a Will that she dare not indulge.

In the window, her eyes were now rightfully azure.

Out the window, Jaune's scroll chimed, "Break's over! Fifty more! And… Swing!"

"Yah!"

Getting out of bed felt like learning to walk. Fatigue and drowsiness left her stumbling. But an hour later, she was comely and composed.

Floorboards creaked in the inn's main room. Everyone removed their hats as she passed.

Everyone but Qrow, who set down a coffee cup, thanked Rufus, and stood from the bar to intercept her.

"Morning, Mister Branwen," Aqua smiled.

He nodded, "Morning. And it's Qrow to you."

"Qrow," she nodded.

Qrow looked at her with an expression of stress or disappointment, like he had something to say but couldn't.

Last night, in the meadow, she'd told him that a murder threw their world out of alignment. Qrow and Jaune didn't act surprised or ask her to clarify it. She'd said "A Murder" and they'd immediately asked her about a tower.

Aqua had gathered- from the stars, from the general mood- that this world had lost its Princess of Heart.

Qrow and Jaune already known the truth in their hearts: That this death was different. This death mattered on a cosmic scale.

In a way, Aqua was the bearer of bad news. Was Qrow mad at her? He didn't look mad. He looked uneasy.

"Standing guard over a village you've got no attachment to," Aqua realized, "Leaving the rescue of your niece to a stranger…"

Qrow sighed like a horse, then shook his head in disbelief. "Am I that easy to read?"

"I know the feeling," Aqua nodded. "So… What are you going to do?"

He was looking around the room, anywhere but at her.

Everyone watched them with baited breath. They would perish or prosper by the grace of The Huntsman. And if he wouldn't stay to save this world, Aqua wouldn't think twice about leaving. Her heart skipped at the realization.

These weren't her people. They wouldn't mourn her passing, nor she theirs. Her tears had run out on the long march through the darkness. World after world of stories that terminated in silence and shadows. Someday, she would stop caring.

Maybe today.

Qrow turned back to her. "I'm not abandoning these people." He stared at her for a while, waiting for it to sink in.

Jaune entered in the silence. He raised his eyebrows at the tension, and walked into the conversation like he didn't want to wake a baby.

Qrow finished, "I hope you won't abandon us either, Aqua." His head tilted down, and he very suggestively added, "We both know the feeling."

Aqua's goosebumps returned in a wave, like a tide of ice washing down her body. She folded her arms across her chest to arrest the sensation. She swallowed her fear, then cleared her throat. "Jaune and I are going to Olympus Coliseum today. We'll be back."

Her next exhale was heavy. The last of the fear left her when she committed. She was a good person and she was doing the right thing. Tomorrow, she'd wake up with a clean conscious and laugh this moment away as mere nerves.

The fear for her soul subsided, letting Heartache for her friends replace it.

Qrow nodded at her resolve, then half-turned to Jaune. "Hear that? You're going to another world."

Jaune stepped forward. "I'm ready when you are."

Aqua could only lift half a smile. "If you say so."


	10. To the Coliseum

There are few reference points in the Lanes Between worlds. Acceleration is felt, not seen.

Jaune gripped Aqua's waist with all his might and gaped at the stars. He'd been so excited to see another world that he'd forgotten about the trip to get there.

Aqua gripped the guide rail on her keyblade glider, and gently flexed her wrist, adding a dose of speed.

Jaune screamed, "Don't we need space suits?!"

Aqua squinted. "You don't have to shout. And no. We're not in space."

"Aren't those stars?"

"Yeah. But that dark stuff isn't space."

She felt him lean off center. He'd just noticed that the darkness was moving. A tendril probed its way closer, and encountered their defense. The monster struck the shield, and the barrier glowed into view. Jaune flinched, then smiled at the illuminated, hexagonal panels. "Ooh. Pretty."

"Yeah."

"But what's with the spooky space monster?"

"Don't worry about it. We're here."

They flashed through a white light. Clouds buffeted the shield, Cumulonimbus, and high wind howled around them. Water pooled along the barrier's leading edge and dripped off the sides.

They broke through the cloud layer, and Aqua lowered her shield to feel the wind whipping in her hair. They'd brought the pine and mud smell of Vale in their bubble, but now knew the smell of sweat and dust.

The sun glimmered off marble in Athens. Jaune watched the city, but Aqua took them up the mountain, to the coliseum. She set down in the courtyard, and Jaune immediately bailed for ground.

Aqua stepped off the keyblade glider and waved her arcane dismissal.

The moment, this grand entrance to a place she recognized, finally gave her a sense of rest. For the first time since she'd plunged into the darkness- for the first time in ten years- she felt safe. She let her eyes linger on the columns. Finest marble, finest craftsmanship. Statues of great heroes long past flanked the entrance, swords crossed over the archway. She breathed talc and sweat. Leaderboards hung from the Coliseum's walls, and the world's banners billowed.

She faced the entrance, and looked down, to a point just in front of her and long, long in the past.

Zack Fair had stood right here and flirted above his bracket. "How about a date?"

Ten years ago. She felt herself stretching across that gap of time. The eternal night in The End, spent clutching her Wayfinder and counting the heartbeats of those who remembered her. She remembered the moment his stopped. The panic, the crack in her resolve that would never heal. The unanswered question. A part of her wished that he'd forgotten her and would remember. A part of her preferred that he'd died. The question- the Pain- mounted until she reminded herself to breathe. She was going to find her friends. She was going to rescue Terra and Ven.

Behind her, a laborer dropped a box from his cart and shattered one of the coliseum's vases. He was scrawny, with a white toga and a raised eyebrow. He looked a bit like Hercules, though she remembered him with a different haircut and a stronger jaw.

A familiar voice yelled at the laborer. "HEY! Watch it!"

Aqua looked for a man, then remember to look down, for a squat Satyr.

Phil ran the Coliseum and everything that happened in it. "Those boxes don't even go there! They go inside! Look at this pottery, ah, it's a mess, we gotta-"

Phil saw Aqua. He gaped.

Aqua waved tepidly, briefly worried that he, too, had forgotten her.

Jaune stepped to her side and asked, "You know the faunus?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "But it's been a while. He might not-"

Phil shouted, "Sugarcakes!"

Aqua's polite smile hit a grimace at the familiar but unwelcome nickname. "Oh, good. You do remember me." Under her breath, she added, "Just not by name."

Phil waddled to her on his tiny goat legs, wiping back his balding hairline in astonishment. "Now why would I go and forget one of the stadium's champs? It's good to see you back. And who's this guy?"

He gestured to Jaune, but didn't wait for an answer. "Nevermind," Phil waved. "You can do better. Drop him. He's holding you back. Come here, though, we gotta catch up. We'll get you into some competitions for old time's sake- make sure you're still sharp, and then-"

Aqua shouted, "We're looking for some friends of Jaune's!"

Phil stopped talking.

Aqua continued, more civilly, "And I remembered the last time I came by, you were able to help."

Phil scratched his stubbled chin and gave Jaune another three seconds' consideration. Jaune straightened his posture self-consciously.

Phil nodded. "Well…" He looked Aqua in the eye. "If you'll compete in the games, I'm sure-"

Aqua shook her head. "Not falling for that one again. But… Speaking of the games… Is Zack here?"

Phil kept scratching his chin, but slower. This wasn't his sincere thinking face.

He licked his lips. "Zack, uh… He hasn't been around for years. Went back to Holl- Radiant Gardens. Wanted to be a soldier. You haven't been around neither. How long has it been? You haven't aged a day! You ever catch up with Terra?"

Aqua closed her eyes and tried to swallow her emotions. Phil was trying to be friendly, despite his fast-talking, despite trying to drag everyone around him into the games, and despite offering his opinions too freely. Phil was an ally, and she needed allies. She had to focus.

Aqua took a deep breath, blinked, and nodded. "Yeah. I caught up with Terra and Ven, Phil." She swallowed again, spit thickening. "It went really badly. Ven's in a coma and Terra's possessed, and I've been trapped in… Well it's like the Underworld, but for Worlds that have lost their heart. That's where I've been, Phil, and it's been really awful."

She told herself she could get through this with honesty and no tears. "And now that I've escaped, I'm learning that I've been lost for ten years. And, you know… No one came looking for me."

Beside her, Jaune shuffled his feet nervously and tried to find an appropriate place to look. Aqua's rant had strayed off the point. His extreme discomfort reminded her of the task at hand. "I'm, uh… I'm a little sidetracked right now, because I've got to help Jaune here find his friends so we can save his world from destruction."

She'd done it, and rewarded herself with a deep, ragged breath.

Phil smiled broadly and nodded his approval. "You're still fightin' the good fight, then!"

"Yeah," she acknowledged. "I guess I am." She ran her tongue over her teeth, slowly, savoring the self-inflicted pain.

Jaune, wide-eyed and off-set by the revelations, offered, "Aqua, if it's any consolation-"

"The only consolation," she interrupted, "Will be getting our friends back."

Phil asked Jaune, "Alright, Kid, you got a description?"

Jaune pulled his scroll from his pants pocket. The holo-screen flickered and danced under his gestures until it displayed a high definition portrait.

Aqua blinked in amazement. "Jaune, you _do_ know magic!"

He squinted at her. "No. Uh. It's- it's a Scroll. It's a handheld computer."

Aqua tilted her head at him condescendingly. She knew computers didn't fit in the hand; Radiant Gardens, the most advanced of all worlds, needed a massive cathedral to house theirs.

Aqua folded her arms. "Show us the picture, wise guy."

Jaune angled the image to Phil. "This is Lie Ren. My friends are all part of a Huntsman team from Beacon."

Phil interrupted, "What do you hunt?"

"Grimm."

"Heartless," Aqua clarified.

Phil's eyes lit up. "Hey, we use those in the games! You looking for work?"

" _After_ we find his friends," Aqua reminded him.

"Right. Right. Okay, this is Ren. Green guy."

Jaune swiped to, "Nora Valkyrie."

"Cute," Phil chuckled. "Here, gimme that."

He motioned for the scroll, and Jaune handed it carefully. Phil licked his thumb, pressed it all the way against the display face, and swiped it like a book page. Jaune grimaced at the sight of a tiny goat man rubbing spit on his phone.

Phil asked, "Who's this one?"

"That's, uh…" Jaune shook his head. "We're not looking for her. Next one."

"She looks Athenian," Aqua noted.

Phil leaned in so close his beard hairs tickled the holo-screen. "She's gorgeous!"

Jaune reached and swiped to the next portrait. "This is Ruby Rose."

Phil looked at Jaune oddly. "How's a guy like you surrounded by cute girls?"

Jaune sighed and swiped to the next picture.

Phil pointed. "Mercury Black! He was here a few days ago. Moved on to Traverse Town. Good hustle, but bad attitude."

Jaune grumbled, "Yeah."

Aqua caught the terseness of his reply. He'd steeled his gaze at the picture, and his heartbeat was visible in his neck. This was uncharacteristic aggression from Jaune. Some guys were fueled by rivalry. Ven and Terra used to get at each other like this, even through their love. Not from a distance, though.

Jaune swiped to the next picture and asked, "Was this girl with Mercury?"

Aqua noted, "You've got a lot of friends, Jaune." And then her mind caught up. According to Qrow, huntsmen worked four to a team. She'd now seen seven faces.

Phil whistled. "Whoa, Jaune. She your friend, too?"

Jaune hesitated, then reserved his expressions so much he barely breathed as he answered.

"She's a classmate." His voice shook, and he swallowed to disguise it. "Cinder Fall," he said flatly.

Aqua had learned, the hard way, that men are not truly angry until they disguise their wrath. Jaune wore a neutral face, but had clenched his offhand. She could clearly sense the well of anger he'd nurtured. It mirrored her own.

The vein thrummed in Jaune's neck. He stared at Phil intently, waiting for an answer about Cinder.

"I'd remember seeing her," Phil grinned. "Tell you what, you got this picture on Papyrus? I'll keep it around just in case she-"

Jaune snorted and swiped to the last image. "How about this one? Emerald Sustrai."

Aqua pointed. She'd seen that face.

Jaune raised his eyebrows. "You know her? From when?"

"At the Inn… But, uh…" She scratched the back of her head nervously. "Nevermind. That was a boy."

Phil asked, "Wait, isn't this a boy?"

Jaune shook his head. "Uh, no. See? Her school uniform has a skirt."

Phil asked, "So?"

Jaune didn't have an answer. He looked to Aqua.

"Careful," she advised. "Different worlds; Different cultures."

Phil asked, "Really? How do men show off their muscles where you're from?" He looked at Jaune's skinny jeans and laughed, "Nevermind. Here." He tossed the Scroll carelessly, and Jaune scrambled to save it.

Phil turned to Aqua. "You still got your doodad?" He spun his finger in the air to identify it.

She showed him the Wayfinder. "Yeah. If you see them, just think about me really hard. I'll know to come visit."

"Will do. And I can't convince you two to help me out at all? Lemme' level with you, Aqua. We're in trouble here. We just finished the Mulan cup, and we're short on celebrations to hold until the seasonal ones start."

"Can't you go on hiatus?" she suggested.

Phil took a step back in shock, then forward in anger. He yelled, "The Coliseum! Does NOT! Go on Hiatus!"

"Okay! Okay. Sorry, um…" She had no idea how to help. She put her hands on her hips and asked Jaune, "Know any heroes?"

Jaune didn't look happy. Phil had insulted him thrice, and Jaune was still suppressing his emotions. He swallowed, then nodded. "Yeah." He flipped open his scroll again and returned to the picture of the gorgeous redhead, straightening his back and lifting his chin. For the first time, he looked confident.

He looked Phil in the eye. "Her name was Pyrrha Nikos. She almost saved the world. And she's given me the opportunity to finish the job."

Phil keened his eyes.

Jaune continued, "One month ago-"

Phil held out a hand. "Wai-wai-wait, hold that thought." He turned away, put two fingers in his mouth, and whistled loudly, then waved someone over.

Aqua looked and saw the most attractive man in all Athens. Her breath caught.

His chin was solid like the bronze-cast heroes above them. His neck was thick like a true body-builder. The leather of his breastplate was so tight and so well-worn that it had conformed to the arsenal of muscles across his torso. He could definitely pick her up and carry her with those arms. He could probably carry the marble columns at the entrance. And his leather skirt showed off an amazing set of legs. His skin was bathed in a divine, bronze glow.

He jogged to a stop beside Phil and winked, "Hey, Aqua."

She felt the heat of the sun on her cheeks. "Hey," she answered. She shook her head straight. "Wait, do I know you?"

He pointed two thumbs at himself. "Yeah. It's me. Herc."

He smiled knowingly. She'd just been caught checking out her childhood friend. She covered her eyes in embarrassment. What a welcome.

Hercules laughed. "You didn't recognize me, right? Yeah, I've been hitting the gym. Turns out Zeus is my dad or something."

Phil punched Herc on the shin. "Hey! Stop flirting!" then rounded on Aqua. "You too! He's already got a girl. An _Athenian_ girl!"

They objected at the same time.

"Phil, I'm not-"

"Yeah, we're not-"

"Shut up. And listen to this story. Jaune, go ahead."

Jaune wasn't looking anyone in the eye. He'd assumed that his presence was forgotten. But he was emboldened again by the attention. Speaking Pyrrha's deeds lit a fire in him.

"One month ago, Grimm- Heartless- attacked the great city of Vale. During our games." He nodded towards the Coliseum. "There was an overwhelming number of them, and the city was doomed. But also, there was a… A mage, I guess. This woman wanted to steal… Magic powers for herself. And she could use those to destroy the world. My friend, Pyrrha Nikos, was supposed to run away from the city and escape. We were just kids then. She was a student, just like I was."

The injustice of the world shimmered in his eyes.

He gulped it down and focused on the important part of the story. "But she didn't run. She stood and fought for our home. The woman who came to steal the magic powers… Pyrrha fought her alone. There was no chance to win, and even if she'd won, the Heartless swarm would have overwhelmed her. But by standing and fighting, she delayed Cind-" Jaune licked his lips and closed his eyes. He wasn't good at hiding his intent.

"Cinder Fall," Phil said. "And her friends Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. I'm no dummy, kid, and you wear your heart on your toga."

Jaune nodded, then opened his eyes and continued. "Pyrrha delayed her long enough for the rest of us to arrive and wound Cinder. She's still alive, but… Her plans were stopped. And if it wasn't for that… Well, I guess we'd all be dead or something."

He shied away from Aqua, but looked to Phil, to see if this story would garner any respect.

Phil was gripping his chin. He'd listened intently, and now summarized by counting points on his fingers. "Child, woman, impossible odds, protecting city, looks Athenian, died at the apex of her glory."

Phil snapped, "You hear that, Herc? _That_ 's a hero. You've got a long way to go."

He returned to Jaune. "Look around you, Kid. See all these leaderboards? Did Sugarcakes tell you where you are?"

Jaune looked up at the boards blankly. "I uh… Can't read that."

"You can't read?" Phil asked.

"Oops," Aqua mumbled. She weaved an enchantment on her fingers and cast it over him like a shroud. "Look again."

Jaune's pupils dilated in amazement. "You host tournaments here. And they're all named after…"

Phil interrupted. "We host tournaments in honor of great deeds. Word spreads, and heroes from every world come here to compete."

Jaune looked at the names, and then realized, with a rush of exhilaration, what this meant.

Phil patted Jaune on the leg. "And today, my friend, they will compete for the Pyrrha Nikos Cup. Her name will be remembered."


	11. Zack Fair

Jaune's trial began with a great roar from the crowd.

Aqua heard it from down below, in the Hall of Heroes. She'd left her mark on the Pyrrha cup already, and had raised her keyblade to the cheering of the Athenians. Last time she'd competed here, the struggle and victory carried a rush. She'd ascended into glory. This time felt stagnant.

This Hall felt stagnant.

All the glory of heroes past, reduced to statues and mementos. Nothing living; nothing moving. One podium at a time, she glanced at the mementos, skimmed the plaques, and moved on.

Sunlight didn't reach through the whole crypt. She crossed the dividing line, out of the sun's beam, into the cooler air, and waited for her eyes to adjust to darkness.

On the far wall, she found what she'd sought. Atop a podium, glimmering bronze, a small statue of a Chocobo. And on the plaque beneath it: the name Zack Fair.

Aqua halted in place. All warmth had left her skin, and now she shivered.

She'd come looking for proof. Here it was.

Zack Fair had lived his life. For almost a decade, Aqua had run in circles and fought for survival, getting nowhere, learning nothing, meaning nothing. And her friends had lived out their lives without her. Zack had fulfilled his dream, probably fallen in love, joined groups, left groups, practiced skills and triumphed in competitions.

Phil's hooves shuffled at the entrance, announcing his presence. He cast a long shadow, and his face was barely visible due to the contrast of the light.

"Figured I'd find you in here," Phil sighed.

"It's alright," Aqua assured him. "I'm alright. I just… Wanted closure, I guess."

"You're sad."

"Of course. My friend is dead."

"Bah." Phil waved dismissively. "Our values are different. You know, I cheered out loud for him, when I found out. Threw a party. Hercules was overjoyed. Women cried happy tears, and children threw flowers for him. Zack was a popular guy. And his dream, to be a hero, to die in the prime of his age and leave a beautiful body behind…" Phil placed a hand on his heart. "Aqua, there are few who will ever do so well in life."

"You're right," she nodded. "I should be happy for him."

But the admission didn't change her feelings. She covered her eyes, with one hand, to hide the tears that she'd held for so long.

Phil reached out his arms. "Aqua. Look. You were young once, naïve and childish, right? And then your master sent you into the world with a light heart. You did your great deed. But… Well, that place you've been for ten years? Instead of dying, you did something not quite like it. And now you're you."

She listened and nodded, but kept her eyes covered.

Phil licked his lips, clearly uncomfortable. "Aqua, think for a second about the whole journey you've been on. If you had to start over from the beginning, as who you are now, could you do it again?"

Ten years she'd spent reacting to every motion and sound for combat. And not a second of that decade was spent in meditation or thought. She hadn't even noticed. What was left of her? An animal with quick reflexes. Barely any personality. No warmth of love, nor Will to Power.

For a moment, she tried to look inward. But she found that she didn't dare to. A wall of fear barred the entrance to her heart.

She lowered her hand and looked to Phil for grounding.

"No," she admitted.

Phil's dimples sagged, pulling his expression down. His whole face wrinkled in sorrow, as if she'd cast those ten years onto him.

"Death is a sad thing," he said. "But it's not the worst thing."

Aqua hugged herself and rubbed her arms, fighting off the chill. "Am I better off dead?" Her voice quavered.

Phil cast off his sorrow. A laugh jumped up his throat. "HA! No, you just have to do another great deed is all. Double the work." He threw his head back to laugh more, and the laughter was contagious.

Aqua giggled for the first time she could remember.

And as the joke caught on to her, she remembered the days she played under the sun with her friends, and the nights under the stars. This would be the first of her new happy times. She would nurture this laughter like a flame and share it with Terra and Ventus someday. She would lighten her heart and learn to fly again.

For now, she was ready to accept that Zack was gone. That she had to continue without him.

She caught her breath, wiped tears from her eyes, and asked, "Alright, Phil. Could you… Whew. Could you tell me the story? What was Zack's great deed?"

If requested, Phil could recite the story of every hero in this hall. He served this ceremonial role at the beginning of every cup. Now, for an audience of one, he began. "The greatest hour of Zack Fair's life, from the account of his brother in arms, Cloud Strife."

Zack Fair held up two fingers to Cloud's face.

Boyish excitement lifted his features, and he whispered to Cloud as if they were hiding from grownups. "Remember, we need The Princess and the Heart, and we need to get them before anybody else does, okay? You brought the materia, right?"

Cloud patted the bulky bracer on his throwing arm. A socketed gem the size of a fist sparkled with magical power.

"Zack," he whispered, "They're not gonna let us in with these weapons."

High above them towered Radiant Gardens' Clocktower Keep, the center of all political and military power in the universe, the scepter from which Ansem the Wise lead this golden age of prosperity. Its mighty shadow traversed the city like a sundial. The shadow was just leaving the courtyard, and glorious rays prismed across the jeweled, marble flagstones.

Across the courtyard, two royal guards nervously shifted their weight and watched Cloud.

Zack turned his back to them. "Yeah, I know, Cloud. That's why we brought the weapons." Zack patted the massive sword on his back. Cloud's eyes draped the length of the blade. He'd seen shorter spears. This thing was the size of a whole man.

Cloud licked his parched lips nervously. "We're going to jail, and I'm gonna feel like an idiot."

Zack chuckled, still looking too excited- hopped up on adrenaline. "You trust me, Cloud?"

Cloud held out his hands, frustrated. "I trust you, Zack, I'm just a little surprised, okay? You're telling me the whole country's been taken over by time-travelling, interdimensional, child-snatching monsters who want to steal the world's heart. Whatever that means."

"It means no more Radiant Gardens."

The guards were still watching them.

Cloud scratched the back of his neck. "Zack, we're acting real suspicious, man."

Zack checked his watch. "We're waiting for Avalanche."

"Avalanche? The Eco-Terrorists?"

Zack put a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "Look, we can't be picky. Our enemies are literal and pure evil."

"Sure, but you could've mentioned Avalanche sooner. And, hey," Cloud gestured to the doors. "Isn't there another guy from SOLDIER stationed here? A first class, like you, right?"

Zack nodded his head sideways, "Yeah, Sephiroth's here, but that's not our problem."

Cloud blinked. "How is that not our problem?"

"Because if it _is_ a problem, then the whole world ends. And that's not gonna happen."

Cloud frowned. "Zack I love you, man, but the plan is that two farm boys are gonna fight the entire Royal Guard."

Zack shook his head. "No, Cloud. The plan is to steal the Heart of the World, save the Princess, and _not_ fight the entire Royal Guard."

"Alright. And _I'm_ the guy you brought along?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

Zack released Cloud's shoulder and cradled his cheek, chuckling like they were pulling a prank. "Because I love you too, Bro."

Thunder, distant and deep, announced the destruction of a Mako reactor. It shrieked like a thousand jet engines and blazed like a colossal road flare, distracting the guards. Horror crossed their faces.

Cloud asked, "That's our cue?"

"Go!"

Cloud was an above average runner in his recruit class; Zack was on a whole other level. He checked his shoulder and shouted, "Gotta keep up, Cloud!"

They sped through the front gates, skidded around the hallway corner, and stopped at their first challenger.

A cloaked man leaned against their door, arms folded. This was one of Ansem's Apprentices.

"Bad guy," Cloud warned.

Zack straightened to a stop, his grin still shining. "Hang on a sec. I know this one. Axel, right?"

Axel threw down his hood and blinked in surprise, then answered Zack's smile with his own- far sharper. "I'm glad you remembered."

Zack puffed out his chest and announced, as if casting a spell, "Let your Heart Be Your Guiding Key."

Cloud raised his eyebrows and looked at Zack like he was crazy.

Axel looked paralyzed. Shock in his eyes, utter stillness across the rest of his features. He stammered, "H-how do you know about that?"

Zack shook his head wildly. "Don't got time, Man. This is a jailbreak. Somebody's gotta put this right."

Axel was shaken, but he didn't step aside. He nodded upwards, a challenge to Zack. "What makes you think you can take on the whole Royal Guard?"

Cloud stepped forward. "Hey, man, know who you're talking to! This is Zack Fair, Soldier First Class!"

Axel sneered at Cloud. But he nodded, and asked Zack, "First Class?"

"If anyone can pull this off, it's me."

Axel nodded, then moved aside. "If we meet again, we're enemies." He nodded them onwards. "Go. Good luck."

Zack sprinted, and Cloud kept pace, running the interaction through his head. Farther down the hallway, he asked, "Let your heart be your guiding key?"

Zack laughed. "Pretty good, right? I know Ansem's Apprentices better than he ever did."

"Zack, what the heck does that even mean?"

"Not a clue. Next step. Got that materia ready?"

"Yeah!"

This hallway was part of the inner acropolis. King Ansem had kept the old aesthetic in the remodel. Walls of stone and mortar.

Ahead of them, where the hallway left the great wall and became a catwalk, sunlight shone through windows on both sides.

Zack stutter-stepped to a stop at the last point of safety, his back pressed against the wall. "Okay. Lemme take a peek."

He leaned timidly until his eye entered the beam of light. "Not on the right side," he hummed.

Cloud had gotten a truncated version of the plan. He asked, "You sure your guy's here? I mean… How would he know to wait for us at this catwalk?"

Cloud leaned into the sunlight to look left. Across the acropolis and atop the wall, he saw a twinkling light, where the sun reflected on a rifle scope. Zack shot a hand out and pushed him back, and the stone exploded where Cloud's head had been.

Cloud and Zack stared at each other wide-eyed, then exhaled their adrenaline dumps together.

"Like I said," Zack said, "This one's Xigbar. Guy has a knack for being exactly where he needs to be."

Cloud cocked his throwing arm and cast his materia with a gesture. The gem glowed in his bracelet, and a barrier formed over the windows.

As they ran along the catwalk, a shot ricocheted off the arcane force field. Zack cupped his hands and shouted, "Try aiming with both eyes!"

The catwalk lead into the cathedral, but brought no sunlight. This service route took them along the top rim of the atrium. Gone were the nation's pews. Now mechanisms clicked and electrical arcs snapped, echoing terribly in the darkness. Coolant pipes mauled the architecture and shed puffs of frost into the stagnant air. These were the corpus of an age of reason, the inner workings of the national computer.

Zack pointed and lead them to the chapel's head. The balcony there had once hosted a pipe organ. Now it was a control room, all white tiles and white panels. Zack slid into place at the keyboard overlooking the hall.

Down on the floor, all the wires and pipes converged on a platform attended by mechanical arms and sparking instruments.

Cloud squinted at it. "That an assembly line?"

Zack was staring intently at the keyboard, reading each key carefully, heart rate visible in his veins. "Yeah. The Apprentices are manufacturing Heartless."

"Heartless?"

"Ansem discovered them under the castle. His apprentices studied them. Now they manufacture them."

"I thought the shadows under the castle were a metaphor."

Zack wiped a drop of sweat from his brow and held up a hand to stop the questions. "Gotta focus. The password is…"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He poked each key with a pointer finger. "Another."

Tap.

The wall behind them slid open for a secret passage. Zack pointed. "This way."

Cloud pointed at the keyboard. "How'd you figure all this stuff out?"

"Angeal did most of that," Zack shrugged.

Cloud followed him into the secret room, a dark, downward staircase.

As they crossed into the umbra, he asked, "Why isn't Angeal here with us?"

He could barely see Zack as they descended, and only by the glimmer on the Buster Sword's cutting edge.

"Because Angeal's dead, Cloud."

"King Ansem killed a Soldier First Class… And covered it up?"

"Ansem's dead, too."

"He gave a speech last week. I was there."

"Hologram," Zack grunted.

Cloud couldn't dispute it. They continued down the stairs, the air growing colder, feet tapping on each step, until Cloud realized, "If Ansem's gone, who's running the country?"

"A few years ago, this guy named Xehanort appeared in the middle of town. Happened at night. Fell out of a corridor to darkness."

"A what?"

"Ansem brought Xehanort into the Apprentice program. Xehanort took it over. Exiled Ansem. Impersonates him."

They landed at the bottom of the stairs. "Welcome to the oubliette," Zack whispered.

"Zack, this wasn't part of the plan."

"I know. But I made Axel a promise, remember? Don't wanna go back on my word. Find a light switch."

Cloud pawed at the wall and flicked a switch. Fluorescents made him squint.

The room was a large circle, steel walls, with hallways branching out cardinally. At the room's center, a suit of foreign armor lay chained down on an examination table. Zack halted at the sight of it.

A pauldron lay partially disassembled on the table, displaying its layers: adamantine plating, orichalcum absorption, gold wires, hundreds of tiny materia cores socketed and linked in an elaborate silicone chip.

Cloud nudged him. "We gotta move, remember?"

Zack nodded at the table. "The night Xehanort appeared… This suit of armor was with him."

Cloud tilted his head at the breastplate. "Looks like it's for a girl."

"It belongs to a _woman_ named _Aqua_ ," Zack murmured. His mind was elsewhere. "Thought she'd come back for this someday, but…"

"Where's she… Where's this thing from?"

"Scala ad Caelum," Zack remembered.

Cloud raised his eyebrow. "The fairytale kingdom?"

"The world's ending, Cloud. Get used to fairy tales."

"I thought we're saving it."

Zack wobbled his head side to side. "We're doing the next best thing."

Zack drew the buster sword from his back and busted the chains restraining Aqua's armor. Cloud had never seen Zack truly let loose with the sword before. His blows were like watching a man set records at a gym. Every strike sounded like the plates hitting a squat rack.

Bash.

Bash.

Bash.

Bash.

And there went a million gil worth of mythril restraints.

Cloud scratched his forehead in wonder.

Zack stared at the armor expectantly, like it would jump to life. "It can move on its own."

It didn't.

Cloud asked, "Are we rescuing the armor?"

"No, but…" Zack snorted, then beckoned, "You're right, we gotta move."

They sprinted. Zack took corners tightly. He knew his way.

The jails in Radiant Gardens would be scandalized to have a single cell like these. Thatch on the floors. Blanket in the corner.

Only one was occupied. An emaciated girl curled naked under her blanket.

Cloud swallowed. For the first time, he was seeing proof of the atrocities. The rumored darkness under the Clocktower Keep.

Bars. Keypad. Cloud reached for it and asked, "Zack, you know the code?"

"Yeah."

Zack gripped the steel bars and dropped into a power stance. He huffed oxygen into his muscles and then exerted so much raw strength that Cloud stepped back.

Zack's muscles flexed and shook with the effort. A roar built in his throat, and then the steel groaned and made room for him.

"Damn," Cloud noted.

Zack pulled the prisoner from the cell and lifted her into his arms. "Hey. I have a message from DiZ."

Limp and blanketed, she was like a ragdoll without its stuffing. But from the darkness under her blanket hood, Cloud saw a shimmer- her eyes had found Zack's.

"He says he's found the Key."

The Girl reached feebly for Zack's hand, and squeezed him.

Zack handed her to Cloud.

Cloud had never been so bewildered in his life. "Zack, who the heck is DiZ? Who's This?"

They took off again, Zack retracing his steps to the stairs.

The added weight had Cloud puffing his cheeks and feeling the burn in his lungs. Exhaustion crept into his muscles.

Zack, meanwhile, had wind to spare. "I told you the Apprentices are manufacturing Heartless right?"

Cloud timed his exhale to grunt, "Yeah."

"They turned themselves into Heartless, too. As a side effect, the survivors become Nobodies."

"Huh?"

"People without hearts."

"Why?"

They reached the circular entry room. The armor was gone. Zack noted this with a glance.

"Maybe their conscience was bothering them." Zack gestured at the girl. "Stopped freaks like Vexen from kidnapping people."

"Ahem," a new voice announced.

Cloud and Zack turned to see four more Apprentices standing in the north hallway. The cloaked figures fanned out into the circular room.

Zack pointed. "That one's Vexen. And there's Sai'x, Lexaeus, and Xaldin."

They each flicked their wrists, summoning weapons to their hands.

Zack leaned to Cloud and whispered, "I'll catch up."

Cloud took the cue to run. The sounds of the fight chased him up the flight, and Cloud panted for his life, pushing his lungs to sprint clear. The prisoner's head wobbled lamely despite his best efforts.

From the Cathedral, he knew the way to the Light Rail system. Across the Hall, through the maintenance access, around the kitchens, and past automaton storage was the least guarded station.

Two royal uniforms stood at attention there and eyed Cloud oddly, watched him drip sweat on the carpet and pant like a hamster on a wheel. The gem on his bracelet was still visibly shedding heat. The prisoner tilted her head to them.

Thinking fast, Cloud mumbled, "I tell you what, guys. Getting into the Apprentice program ain't easy."

The guards glanced at each other, then minded their business.

It was quiet enough to hear the light beam sizzling in the air. The platform arrived, suspended by the beam of light, and the ornate brass birdcage swung open. Cloud waddled onboard and knelt into a cross legged position, cradling his ward.

The platform moved so smoothly and quietly that it felt like solid ground. The cage exited the building a kilometer above the actual ground. The platform followed the clocktower's outer edge for a while, giving him a nice tour of the gardens in the acropolis. Then the rise began, and all of the city's gardens came into view.

The fountains and their sparkling, the emerald evergreens and pink sakuras. Marble and Orichalcum architecture.

"I hope you're not afraid of heights," he hummed. She turned her head to the view, and watched from sunken eyes as the greatest city in all the worlds was laid out before her.

The higher they went, the sharper the sound of wind became. But they didn't feel it inside the cage. Some spell or technology kept them safe. Luxury had consumed Radiant Gardens long ago; These things were taken for granted. Cloud watched reactor three burn and wondered if that was changing.

A large chunk of brass fell past the platform. Cloud looked where it had been, then up.

Above them, Zack was running along the wall of the keep, sword drawn and chasing one of the Apprentices, who could fly apparently.

Arcane winds supported Xaldin's considerable bulk, whipping at his black cloak. His gestures twirled spears and launched them in violent gusts.

Zack parried with the buster sword, leaped from the wall, and swiped through Xaldin's body with all his might. Xaldin fell. He didn't bleed, nor sever. He only fell, grimacing in pain, seemingly unscathed.

Zack landed on the platform and rolled to a stop, then leaned back into a cross-legged repose with Cloud, chuckling, "Whew. That got a lot more dynamic than I expected."

Cloud asked, "Didn't you cut him?"

"They're not human anymore." Zack leaned in to check on the girl. She'd closed her eyes.

Cloud asked, "You think she's gonna live?"

Zack frowned at the horizon. "Maybe they were never human," he decided.

Cloud was only just starting to recover his endurance. He swallowed some anxiety and asked, "So… You've never mentioned Aqua before."

Zack wobbled his head sideways. "Only met her once _._ Eh, twice. We competed at the Coliseum. Back when I was a teenager."

"That all?"

"We had a bond," Zack admitted. "Still do."

"A… _Bond_ ," Cloud implied.

"It's called a Dimensional Link."

"Uh huh."

"She made this thing she called a Wayfinder. It connects peoples' hearts."

"Hmm."

"It means we can lend each other our strengths," Zack explained.

"Mmm."

"Damn it, Cloud!" Zack reached over and punched his arm. "Look, don't go giving Aerith any ideas that aren't right!"

"Yeah, man. I'll be sure and emphasize your deep, emotional connection to this other girl's heart."

"Whatever. Change of topic: We're gonna be late."

"Almost there." Cloud lifted the prisoner and grunted as he stood.

Zack teased, "I hope you enjoyed the rest. Oh, and Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

The platform slowed to a stop. Ten Shinra uniforms turned to look at them.

"That's them! HALT!"

Zack was more concerned with Cloud. "If I survive, don't mention Aqua to Aerith."

"If?"

Zack drew the Buster sword and cleared a path through the rifle fire and laser lances, smacking bodies to the wall and beating helmets with the flat of his sword.

The last body fell, and Zack started patting pockets.

This whole level broke the castle's aesthetic. Polished obsidian floor. Metaglass with flickering holographic designs- The Shinra logo chief among them.

Cloud asked, "Zack? I thought we're going to the heart of the world."

"We are."

"But this is the Keep's Mako reactor."

"They only pretend it's a reactor. This facility's a borehole into the Heart of the World."

"Sephiroth's stationed here."

Zack found a keycard and swiped the door open. He peeked inside and answered, "Sure is."

He sheathed the buster sword, but kept a hand on it as he entered the tight corridor. Cloud followed, hunched over and carrying the girl.

The door slid closed behind them, and the only light left was at the end of the hall: The all-powerful glow of Mako energy.

Like the nation's cathedral, this section was a nexus of pipes and machinery. The hallway spilled into a circular room. In the center, a low, wall held a dazzling pool of light. It was too bright for Cloud to stare at, but it seemed to flicker like rippling water, casting rays erratically across the room's messy infrastructure.

It made perfect sense, now that he saw it. A fountain of life: There was no better form for the heart of Radiant Gardens.

Sephiroth stared into the pool, transfixed by its beauty. He always seemed to be unnaturally aloft, like an aircraft at the moment of lift. His floor-length, silver hair drifted behind him like cat tails, wafting on the faint emanations of the Heart.

He made no motion to acknowledge their entrance. But he spoke. "Isn't it gorgeous? Ansem the Wise recoiled from this temptation. His Apprentice, however, feels no fear. Xehanort would have this world's heart. He would spend the lifeblood of our planet no differently than Shinra."

Zack tightened his grip on the buster sword. "No differently than you," he accused.

Cloud backed against the wall.

Still looking into the waters, Sephiroth explained, "What I want, Zack, is to sail the darkness of the cosmos with this planet as my vessel."

He broke away from the fascinating light. Two Soldiers First Class were staring each other in the eye. The power of their gaze charged the air.

They drew their swords together.

" _Your_ plan," Sephiroth continued, "Is for Cloud to take the heart of this world into his own. And then you will take him very far from here, to hide them."

"And you're not gonna let me do that," Zack reasoned.

"I will."

"What?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, what?"

"I _will_ ," Sephiroth enunciated. "Take the heart and go. With my blessing."

Zack objected, "After that big speech? Why?"

Sephiroth smiled, actual mirth crossing his features. "Because I know that Cloud will bring it back for me."

Zack stood perfectly still, sword held ready, thinking through the logic. "O… kay. So why'd you draw?"

"The shadows under the castle. Surely, you've heard the rumors."

"Yeah?"

"Shadows are cast by light."

Zack didn't answer. He didn't understand.

Cloud set down the girl, then awkwardly stepped between the swordsmen and into the water. "Don't mind me."

Sephiroth nodded to Cloud, to the point where his foot entered the font.

"And now," he explained, "They know that you're here."

"Who?" Cloud looked to Zack for an answer.

"You remember those guys in the black cloaks?"

"Yeah."

"Those are the Nobodies."

"Okay?"

"They're not the shadows under the keep."

Around the room, among the pipes and rafters, the flickering lights cast flickering shadows. The shadows took on forms, slithering, remaining where they oughtn't, and moving.

Cloud took a step back. "The monsters. Heartless."

Darkness dripped from above, pooling on the floor and then rising from it. First came the eyes, bulging and ochre. The shadows stood to their full height, to their shapes as men.

Zack pointed and named one. "Lea. Cloud, remember this guy?"

"That was Axel?"

"You're looking at what used to be his heart."

Axel's colors had changed- his skin, to be inhumanly pale, translucent so that the necrosis beneath was visible. And behind his eyes swirled a flickering fire. His arms ended in claws, and his grin was a hole full of fangs. His bared anger was past the capability of speech.

"This is what the Apprentices did to themselves," Zack explained.

"It's what they want for my world," Sephiroth answered.

The fighting began with a show of speed.

Cloud backpedaled and pointed in surprise at the sparks where Sephiroth worked. "Whoa!"

Zack grabbed Cloud, shouting for his attention over the battle "Cloud! Focus! We're short on time, here!"

The fight echoed, even as Sephiroth carried their enemies into the atrium. The monsters screamed and howled like demons.

Zack grabbed Cloud's hand in his own, the grip of brotherhood and solidarity, close to both of their chest, and then lowered Cloud towards the water. "Relax your muscles! All of 'em! Trust me, Cloud, loosen up."

Above them, Sephiroth had sprouted a wing from his back. He was an angel of death. His sword reflected the Heart's light, a piercing beam in the mob of monsters and claws.

Zack leaned into Cloud's vision. "Cloud, you're gonna be out for a bit. It'll take a while to adjust to the Mako."

Pipe sections crashed to the ground. Mako spills flared up with random materia effects.

"I can handle it. What are we waiting for, Zack? Dunk me."

"You may not see me again, Cloud. This is goodbye."

Cloud gripped his friend's arm. "Die young and leave a beautiful corpse, huh?"

Zack smiled. "Yeah. Only way to live forever."

And then he lowered his friend into the light.

A decade later, Nora Valkyrie sat at a café in Traverse Town and listened intently as Cloud told his friend's story. Two others, friends of Cloud, had joined their table.

Aerith sat attentively with a sad smile. Cid smoked a cigar and frowned the whole way through.

Nora's mood softened as she let the tale guide her thoughts, until her irises finally reflected their natural light. She'd dried her tears about Pyrrha.

Now that the story was over, she felt obligated to react in some way. She offered, "He sounds like a great guy."

"He really was," Aerith nodded.

Nora didn't mean to be rude, but the point of this story was clear. They wanted her to take their worldview about the death of a dear friend. And the problem with that was… "I guess your home planet got destroyed anyway, though, huh? Or you wouldn't be _here_."

Cloud tapped his chest. "Our world never fell to darkness. Zack was successful. We escaped on a gummi ship, and we'll be returning home. Soon."

"Good for you." Nora forced a smile that she didn't feel.

Aerith had her hands clasped together on the table. She leaned onto them and strained, "When people hear about Zack, they don't say, 'Oh, Cloud's friend? That guy Aerith hangs out with?' To them, Zack is a Hero. And I guess… That's kind of alienating for us. Some of us wish he could have died with him. Or we wish that he hadn't died. We want to claim him as part of our lives. But the truth is, he was more than just our experiences of him. We can't let our sorrow blind us to that. There's a wrong way to deal with grief. And, more importantly… Believe me: There's a right way. There's a way to move on."

Nora heard, "Just move on. Walk it off."

"I don't… Wanna sound ungrateful," Nora squinted. "I appreciate you guys talking to me. But… All I want… All I can bring myself to want, is my friend back. I don't think I can take anything less. And if I can't have that…"

She stopped short of saying anything villainous. "I don't know how I can go on. I don't have a world in my heart or anything. All I had was my friends. And now I'm alone."

Aerith pushed her optimism. "Well, the other two are alive, right? Ren and Jaune?"

"Sure, but… Everything you guys have told me about… Worlds being destroyed and people appearing in this place." She gestured around them.

"Traverse Town," Cid said. He was a bulky mechanic who spoke around his cigar.

"Yeah," Nora nodded. "Traverse Town. People only come here when their world is destroyed. So… Pyrrha _didn't_ save Remnant. It's gone. And if my friends aren't here, they're dead, too."

The Truth hurt. Nora rested her head in her hands.

Cid asked, "Pyrrha _Nikos_?"

Nora looked up. Everyone looked at Cid.

Aerith asked, "You've heard of her?"

Cid gestured over his shoulder. The cigar danced as he explained. "I jus' dropped Yuffie n' Leon at the Coliseum. There's a cup 'n her honor. _Somebody_ survived Remnant."

Everyone looked at Nora.

She sniffled, swallowed, and asked, "Coliseum?"


End file.
